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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUIIE, 



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REPORT 



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OF THF. 



FLAX AND HEMP COMMISSION, 



APPOINTED UNDER 



ACT OF CONGRESS FEBRUARY 25, 1863. 



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LETTER 



THE COMMISSIONER OE AGRICULTURE, 



TfiANSMiniXQ 



The report of the commission appointed under an act of Congress approved 
February 25, 1863, "for investigations to test the practicahility of cultivating 
and preparing flax or heynp as a substitute for cotton" 



Department of Agriculture, 
Washington, D. C, February 28, 1865. 
Dear Sir : I beg through you to present to the Senate the report of the com- 
mission appointed by me under an act of Congress approved February 25," 
1863, for "investigations to test the practicability of cultivating and preparing 
flax or hemp as a substitute for cotton, twenty thousand dollars." 

I regard the report as one of great interest, and suggest to you that twenty 
thousand copies be ordered to be printed for this department. 
Very respectfully, 

ISAAC NEWTON, Commissioner. 
Hon. H. B. Anthony. 



\ 
\ 



REPORT OF THE FLAX AND HEMP COMMISSION. 



INTRODUC-.TION. 



To tJie Coinmissioner of Agriculture : 

We, the uiulcrsigued, Avho were appointed to act as commissioners to inves- 
tigate and report upon the subject of textile products, as provided under the 
act of Congress making an appropriation for this purpose, beg leave to tender 
our report, after having made earnest and extensive investigations into the 
subject. In so doing we have to regret that, at the present stage of our exami- 
nation of the subjects committed to our charge, Ave cannot render so full and 
complete a report as would be desirable, and that we must leave unsettled some 
very important questions which recent inventions and discoveries have devel- 
oped in relation to the adaptation of the fibres of flax and hemp for spinning on 
cotton machinery. 

When we entered upon the labors of our commission we found that the pro- 
visions of the law were not very explicit as to the mode of conducting our 
investigations, and we were left free to put our own construction upon the 
intent of Congress. This induced us to take the most comprehensive view of 
the subject, and we have endeavored to embrace in our report the results of our 
investigations into the whole subject of textile plants, so far as they have come 
under our observation, and presented claims of utility. We have called for 
contributions to the *Dcpartment of Agriculture of specimens of fibres and of 
the products prepared from them by the fecveral parties who were engaged in 
the preparation of these materials. These have been critically examined, and 
when the results were promising, we have further investigated the processes and 
apparatus ; and, finally, we have experimented upon such materials as appeared 
to be in the most advanced stage of development, and have tested their adap- 
tation to the machinery of the country. In this way we have endeavored to 
avail ourselves of the knowledge of those who have devoted years to the inves- 
tigation, and we have avoided the risk of incurring very heavy expense in 
repeating the experiments which have already been tried by others, and which 
have in many cases proved abortive, or at least fruitless of valuable results. 
We have also availed ourselves of the services of one of the best microscopists 
of the country, who from years of practice has become an expert in the inves- 
tigation of fibrous materials, and whose rich and extensive cabinet of these 
substances has been opened for our examination. To Dr. George C. Shaffer 
we are indebted for the very interesting exhibition of the cellular constitution 
of many of the products that have been presented before us. Such a course 
has been pursued by the commission in the full belief that in this way only 
they could render to the country the best and most useful account of their 
stewardship, and furnish a mass of information that would be valuable to the 
people. 

We suppose that in the brief language of the act, ^^Jlax and hcinp^' wqxq used 
as representative terms, these plants being universally known and widely culti- 
vated in our latitudes. But there are many plants, several of them natives of 
our own country, others that have been successfully introduced, and others 
that may be introduced with advantage, which present fibres of the greatest 
value, and which, therefore, should claim the attention of this commission. 

A notion appears to have prevailed somewhat extensively that the appropria- 
tion of Congress was intended expressly and solely for the encouragement of 
the preparation of what is familiarly cqWqA. Jiax-cotton, which uecessitates such 

* These specimeus are preserved iu the Agricultural Museum. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 3 

a pliortening of tlie beautiful lono; filaments of the fiax-plant as slioulcl adapt 
them for spinning upon the machinery which a century of improvements has so 
admirably fitted to the handling of the short staple of cotton. This interpreta- 
tion appears to gain some encouragement from the words of the act " as a sub- 
stitute for cotton," and also from the fact that many of the extensive manufac- 
tories of our country were standing idle, in consequence of the scarcity of the 
product of the cotton fields, caused by the desolation of the rebellion in the 
southern States. The radical differences that exist in these substances, as dis- 
played by the microscope, make it appear almost impossible to substitute one 
for the other without also introducing some modifications of the machinery to 
be employed. 

The commission has found it difficult to ascertain the value and amount of 
fibrous products that have been produced in the United States. The cotton 
crop has long been one of so much importance to the commerce of the world 
that its values have been regularly reported, and this has been set forth by 
the Superintendent of the Census Bureau as having been the subject of a 
wonderful increase in the last decade, amounting, indeed, to 110 per cent. The 
annual exportation at the beginning of this century was less than 5,000 bales. 
In 1S49 the quantity grown had reached 2,445,703 bales of ginned cotton, of 
400 pounds each. In 1859 it had further increased to 5,196,944 bales. 

From the same source* it appears that the product of hemp fibre for 1850 
was 3,943 tons, and that of the dressed fibre of flax was 3,783,079 pounds, 
equal to 1,891^ tons, making a total of these two products of 5,834i tons, 
against about 489,120 tons of cotton fibre reported as the product of the same 
year, so that the relative amounts of these two classes of fibres arc widely 
different. It is true that many reasons exist to explain the comparatively 
small amount of flax and hemp fibres that have been produced, some of which 
will presently be considered ; nor is it easy to compute the extended ability of 
our country to furnish these products, which we firmly believe may be grown 
in various parts of the United States to any desired extent; and we find that 
the stimulus of advanced prices, and still more, the improvements in various 
agricultural machines, but especially in apparatus adapted to the preparation of 
the fibres of these plants for market, will have the desired effect, and that they 
have already had the effect of increasing the area of land devoted to flax and 
hemp. Hitherto the leading difficulties have arisen from the supposed necessity 
of employing hand labor in almost every stage of their production, from the 
sowing of the seed to the baling of the finished product when ready for the 
market. These obstacles have in a great measitre. been overcome by modern 
ingenuity, and we find that the seed may be sown with a drill machine, and 
more evenly distributed than when cast upon the soil by the most practiced 
hand, and in this condition the young crop can be hoed by horse-power with 
suitable cultivators, instead of the tiresome and expensive hand-Aveeding uni- 
versally practiced in Europe, but which could never be accomplished by the 
farmers of our country. When we come to the harvesting of the flax, instead 
of the weary, tedious, and expensive labor of pulling the stalks from the soil, 
as formerly practiced, we have harvesting machines that cut the crop rapidly 
and as closely as may be desired, though not retaining the straw in as perfectly 
straight a condition, it is true, as the regular streiks or handfuls of the European 
flax gatherer, and yet sufficiently well to answer the ends of the manufacturer, 
who can afford to lose a percentage in the increase of tow or cedilla, caused by 
the tangled condition of the straw. When dry, the flaxseed may be removed 
by a very simple apparatus of rollers that separate it without disturbing the 
straw, or by a slight modification of the common threshing machine, and the 
bundles are kept straight. When the tangling of the stalks is not objected to, 
as is the case with the tow machines next to be noticed, the threshing machine 

*Preliminary Report of tlie Eighth Census, p. 84. 



4 SUBSTITUTING FLAX Oil HEMP FOR COTTON. 

01" tramping by horses may be resorted to. These tow machines are recom- 
meudetl as among the most important appliances iu this branch of agricultural 
improvement. Tangled flax and hemp fibres have been found available iu a 
great many kinds of mauufiicture where formerly the straight or long line, as 
it is technically called, was used. With the various improvements in modern 
machinery an unlimited amount of flax straw may be cheaply adapted to the 
use of the manufacturers of coarse linens, and may also be prepared for combi- 
nation with M'ool in a largo class of fabrics into the preparation of which it had 
already been introduced, in some cases mingling the libres upon the cards pre- 
paratory to spinning, and in others, as the linscys and carpets, combining the 
threads of wool with those of flax when they arc woven iu the loom. 

These flax machines, as they are called, are found in various parts of the 
country Avhercver the raw material is produced in abundance, and they have 
resulted in rendering valuable and useful an immense amount of libre that was 
before wasted, and thus they have stimiilated the growth of a crop formerly 
sown only for the seed. 

In pursuing our investigations, and in making up this report, we have thought 
that a subdivision of the subject would be advisable, and, therefore, have con- 
sidered the several topics in the following order: 

1. The agricultural aspect, including the production of the crops, and the 
most appropriate treatment of the soil and of the plants to be produced. 

2. The mechanical treatment of the product, which is to include the first 
processes of the preparation of the raw material, and which has been performed 
by the farmer, but which we think could more appropriately be assigned to 
such operators as will come near to the scat of jiroduction, with machinery 
adapted to the purpose of separating the fibres of these plants from the accom- 
panying matters with which they are naturally combnied. 

t3. The chemical processes which are needed, in many cases, to perfect the 
preparation of the fibres. Some of these processes, such as those of bleaching, 
are often deferred until after the manufacture of the tissues. 
. 4. The manufacturing stage, which is the most important part of the investi- 
gation, since here the thorough utilization of the products is perfected, and 
because this will be the only safe test of the value of some of the substances 
brought before us. 

5. Peculiarities of fibres, and their classification, in Avhich their adaptability 
to certain distinct purposes in the arts will be made apparent, and their unfit- 
ness for other purposes will be shown, with illustrations of the cells of which 
these fibrous substances are composed. 

6. Next will follow the consideration of several other textile plants, and the 
native modes of their preparation in separating the fibres. 

7. Lastly will follow a list of the exhibitors and of the various articles they 
have presented for the examination of the commission. 

In conclusion, we respectfully submit this report upon these interesting inves- 
tigations. We have continued the research to a point where the most ilattering 
results appear ready to open, and regret that the limit set upon the commission 
renders it necessary that the pursuit should be relinquished when the desired 
end is almost in view. 

J. K. ]\[OORnEAD. 
JNO. A. WAKDER. 
CHAS. JACKSON. 
Washington, February 27, 1865. 

Having examined and approved the above report, I respectfully submit the 
same to Congress. 

ISAAC NEWTON, 
Commissioner of Agriculture. 
Washington, D. C., February 27, 1S65. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



AGRICULTURAL. 

In taking up the consideration of this portion of onr subject, it is proposed to 
treat of the culture and production of flax and hemp as farm products, with the 
necessary details of the preparation of the soil, culture, and management of the 
crops, as well as of harvesting and disposing of them, until turned over to 
the manufacturer. We conceive it to be very important, in this as in many 
other branches of agronomic production, that there should be a well-defined limit 
between what are properly the duties of the farmer and those more appropriate 
to the manufacturer or the manipulator of his crops ; this will establish a sub- 
division of labor that cannot fail to exert a happy influence upon the productions 
of agriculture, instead of hampering it by increasing its labors, which are already, 
in many instances, too onerous. In the case under consideration, it would, we 
think, be best for the farmer's labors to terminate after the harvesting of the 
crop, with the separation of the seed and the delivery of the crude straw to the 
manufacturer. 

In some instances, where the producer occupies an isolated position, it may 
be found best to use a simple farm-brake so as to enable him to compress his 
produce into a smaller compass, and thus reduce the expense of transportation ; 
by this course, too, he would be able to retain a large portion of the waste pro- 
ducts at home upon his farm to be returned to the soil; but even then we should 
recommend a division of labor, and think the brakes had better belong to prac- 
ticed workmen, who should attend to this branch of business in the preparation 
of the fibre for a neighborhood, going from farm to farm, as is often done for the 
grain crops by the owners of the modern threshing machines. 

We shall oifer some general considerations upon the subject of the culture of 
this class of crops which will be of interest, and, we hope, of value to the agri- 
culturist. These will involve the question as to the exhausting properties of 
these fibre plants, their analysis, and the analysis of the soils best adapted to 
their production. We shall also examine the facts with regard to the place these 
crops should occupy in a judicious rotation. 

In regard to the derivation of the word which is in common use to express 
the products of flax, it is somewhat singular that linen should appear to have a 
doubtful origin. We generally and most naturally attribute it to the root of the 
Latin word Itnum, meaning flax, and this is derived from the Greek linon, havino- 
the same meaning, as appears from its use by Homer in his Odyssey, referring 
to linen cloth made from flaxen fibres. But, in the ancient Greek language we 
also find that the word xylinos means, made of cotton ; this word, however, had 
another signification — made of wood, which was its more natural meaning, seeing 
that its root-word xjjlon was their word for wood. May not this show that 
those who invented or used this original term realized a similarity in these fibres, 
such as we now perceive ? But the great naturalist, Pliny, uses the word 
xylhium, in his extensive work on natural history, to express cotton, and this is 
the more remarkable when we consider that the old Irish Avord for flax and flaxen 
is so nearly the same, with only the introduction of the peculiar aspirate of that 
language, and that their word for flax was ITiin. 

HISTORY OF FLAX. 

The flax plant, called by the botanists Linum usitatisshnum, or the most 
useful, has been in cultivation since the earliest historic period, and, therefore, it 
becomes difficult to decide upon its first origin in a state of nature, but it is gen- 
erally claimed as European. Be this as it may, the Egyptians are known to 
have cultivated this plant, to have manutactiu-ed it, and to have used it to 
envelop their mummies, and this is demonstrated to us in modern times, after 



G SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

the lapse of centuries, both by their hieroglyphics and by the revelations of the 
microscope. Upon tlie pj'ramids are delineated processes representing the agri- 
culturist preparing the croj), and with tlie aid of the microscope we discover the 
very nature of the substance of the tissues used in embalming their dead. Wo 
learn from Scripture, also, that flax was an important crop in Egypt, and that 
the Almighty sent a plague of hail by Avhich the " flax and the barley was 
smitten ; for the barley was in the (!ar, and the flax was boiled." Isaiah speaks 
of those "that work in fine flax, and they that weave net-works," in Tyre and 
Sidon, when referring to the destruction of those ancient cities in the Levant. 

Having thus referred to its antiquity, which has concealed its origin in a state 
of nature, we may allude to the fact that botanisff) describe many other species 
of flax in different parts of the world. The native country of the flax of culti- 
vation appears to be an unsettled question among botanists, and this plant is 
foiTud growing wild in most countries where the physical conditions are suited 
to its cultivation. The general opinion, however, ascribes it to the East. Be 
that as it may, the disposition which it possesses of suiting itself to a vast range 
of soils and climates is of infinite importance to man, as it enables him to avail 
himself of the advantages resulting from its cultivation to a far greater extent 
than he otherwise would be able to do. 

The numbers of the natural family of plants to which oin- subject belongs are 
generally remarkable for the tenacity of their fibres, the elegance of their forms, 
the beauty of their flowers, which are tinted blue, red, or white, and for the 
emollient and demulcent properties of their oleaginous seeds. All of this family 
are harmless plants. 

Although the culture of flax has long been quite extensively practiced in 
many parts of our western and northwestern States, the seed has heretofore 
been the only marketable product, while the straw has been almost wholly neg- 
lected and destroyed. ]\Iany thousands of acres are annually devoted to flax 
culture, producing from eight to ten bushels of seed per acre, and which should 
have furnished also about one ton of straAv to the same surface. The extensive 
area devoted to this crop, and the large amount of seed produced, is not a tythe 
of the })roductive ability or capacity of our fertile country ; but the same obstacles 
appear to limit us here, as have so prejudicially retarded the extension of flax 
cultivation in Great Britain. There is, besides the difficulty of obtaining hand 
labor and the high price of wages in this coimtry, " the general opinion that 
flax is an exhausting crop." This question will be separately discussed upon 
another page. 

The old methods of reducing the harsh stalks into the shining flax, which 
were slow, expensive, and laborious, after having been practiced from the re- 
motest antiquity, have at length been supplanted by others which are rapid, 
simple, elegant, economical, and cheap, so that, by the exercise of a small por- 
tion of that enterprise which characterizes our countrymen in an eminent degree, 
every region in which the cultivation of the large staple Jiaxstid exists may be 
also the recipient of bounties flowing from the sale of a siaiile of still greater 
importance, the flax lint, a product which has been an incumbrance to the farmers 
of our day. 

In former times flax was grown for the sake of its fibre chiefly. Every homo- 
stead hod its little field of flax, often a mere patch, which was pulled by Inuid, 
and by the same hands rotted, dried, broken, heckhxl, and scutched. Other 
hands in the same household next took it to the spinning-wheel and to the loom, 
Avith which the shining fibres were deftly transformed into the wouf and web 
which constituted their domestic treasures, and which enabled the industriyus 
and frugal s])inster to bring a valuable contribution to the establishment of a 
new liousehold. 

Why should not our American people grow flax and manufacture linen enough 
to supply themselves, and give steady and remunerative employment to thou- 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTOX. 7 

sands, and in tins way keep at Lome many millions of dollars wliicli annually 
go from the United States to Great Britain to pay for the products of this plant 
which is so well adapted to our own country ? The entire history of the flax 
products of the past few years most convincingly shows that prosperity has been 
a constant attendant upon this crop. And we, in this country, need not go 
back to the barbarous and uncultivated condition that was so long suffered by 
Europeans — we can begin with the benefits of their improvements and our own. 
We know that in Belgium, the German states, Great 13ritain, and France, they 
struggled through centuries of bad management of the flax crop, but Americans 
have the advantage of all their experience to commence with, and those of us 
who would now cuter upon this new field of enterprise may have a bright future 
promising success. 

PROFITS. 

The following cases are cited to show what may be done with this crop. It 
is reported in the American Agriculturist for February, 1864, that Aaron Kim- 
ball, near Worcester, Massachusetts, planted one hundred and thirty-six scj^uare 
rods, rather more than four-fifths of an acre, which yielded him for the 401 

pounds of flax $106 26 

130 pounds tow 5 20 

8 bushels seed 36 80 

Total product 148 26 

Deduct expenses 54 58 

There is left clear profit 93 68 

Or to an acre about 110 00 



Mr. M. B. Brown, of Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, communicates the fol- 
lowing results of a flax crop : 

He ploughed four acres of creek bottom, a very rich black loam. He made 
the soil as fine as a garden, by using the roller and harrow. On the 18th of 
April he sowed broadcast at the rate of one bushel of seed per acre, and covered 
with a light harrow and followed with the roller. In four days the seed came 
up very etenly. Owing to a long-continued drought the straw was short — say 
about two feet high. On July 14 it was cut with the scythe, and cured like 
bay, in the swath. He carted it to the barn and threshed it August 1st to 10th, 
using a horse-power threshing machine and separator, receiving fifty bushels of 
seed, which sold for $2 25, or $112 50. The straw was spread on a meadow, 
and occasionally turned, for two months, when it was taken to Pittsburg and 
sold for $25 per ton, two tons making $50. Thus the crop from four acres 
■yielded $162 50, or $40 62 per acre. 

He considers it a pleasant crop to handle, giving about as much trouble as 
wheat. In a wet season he thinks it would produce much more flax, and that 
the q^uantity sown is about right for a crop of both seed and lint. 

IS FLAX AN EXHAUSTIVE CROP ? 

It is often asserted the flax is an exhaustive crop. Let us look into this 
question and sound it by the light of scientific experiment and inquiry. Some 
investigations were made by Dr. Hodges for the purpose of ascertaining the 
relative proportions of the produce of flax, and of the distribution of inorganic 



8 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

matters in them. The flax had been steeped, and contained .173 of ashes. Of 
the dried straw 4,000 pounds were taken, which produced — 

Of dressed fibre 500 lbs. 

Of tine tow 132 lbs. 

Of coarse tow 192 lbs. 

Total of fibre S42 lbs. 

These products contained — 

In the dressed flax 4.4S lbs. of ashes. 

In the fine tow 2.08 lbs. of ashes. 

In the coarse tow 2.56 lbs. of ashes. 

:Making a total of 9.12 lbs. of inor- 
ganic matter; so that 59.0S pounds which the crop had withdrawn from the soil 
remained in the useless portions, while only 9.12 pounds were carried off in the 
dressed fibre. Comparing these results with those obtained from an analysis of 
an acre of wheat, we shall see that that crop, in grain and straw, abstracts about 
365 pounds of inorganic matter from the soil. 

Flax has been cultivated in Ireland from a very early period, and its intro- 
duction into that island has been attributed to the Phcenicians. Irish writers 
claim that their ancestors cultivated and manufactured this staple before the 
English became an agricultural people. That they very early were possessed of 
a knowledge of its treatment is evident, and it has ever since been so important 
a crop with them that Irish linen is proverbial. In their language, the name 
for thread is Ih'ni, which was also applied to flax. The early Brehau laws 
required that the farmers should be acquainted with the mode of working flax. 

It appears, however, that it was not until the Huguenots settled in Ireland 
that the manufacture of linens became well established. Among them was 
Lewis Crommelin, who settled near Lisburn, to whom Ireland i.s indebted for 
the permanent establishment of the linen manufacture. He had looms, imple- 
ments and spinning-wheels imported from Holland, by means of which an 
improved style of goods was produced. Government aids were bestowed upon 
the manuf;icturc, so that it was well fostered. The Eoyal Dublin Society, as 
early as 1739, exerted itself to supply the cultivators with practical instruction, 
by means of agents who had been trained under the skilful flax-growers of Bel- 
gium. The great impetus, however, was given by the establishment of manu- 
factories to spin the thread by machinery ; and at the same time there was an 
in-eo-ularity in the supply of raw material from the continent, which induced the 
manufacturrrs of Ulster, in ISll, to organize the society '* for the improvement 
of the growth of flax." This society was fostered by government, and extended 
it* operations over the island, and now has its headquarters at Belfltst, and 
actively difl'uses information among the farmers, and ofl'ered liberal premiums 
for improvements in machinery. 

The committee of this society congratulate the members in the following 
terms in the report of 1S50 : 

" The society has now been nearly nine years engaged in its arduous labors 
to accomplish the great national object for which it was formed. Although it 
has had many difficulties to surmount, and many prejudices to contend with, 
and although the complete attainment of its aim is apparently yet distant, a 
dispassionate review of what it has already accomplished must show that it has 
been productive of much good, and that its further progress will be more rapid 
than the past. During the period that has elapsed since its foimdation in 1S41 
it has succeeded, notwithstanding the opposition that prejudice and long-rooted 
habits have presented, in generally improving the growth and preservation of 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 9 

the flax-plant in all tlie districts of Ulster to whicli its operations hf.ve been 
extended. It has introduced scutching machinery of a very superior descrip- 
tion to that formerly in use, and has thus accomplished a great economy iu 
labor and material. It has induced the saving of a large portion of seed, formerly 
lost in the steep pools, thereby enabling the grower to inci'ease the profits of 
his crop by the sale of the seed, or its use in feeding his cattle. It has pro- 
tected the farmer from the frauds under which he fi'equently suffered in the 
pui'chase of seed for sowing, and has succeeded in establishing his legal claims 
for redress, in cases where there has been a deception on the part of the seller. 

" Since its attention has been directed to the districts of the other provinces, 
it has done much towards the great extension of flax cultivation at which it has 
aimed. Outside of the twenty- three counties of the provinces of Leinster, Mun- 
ster, and Connaught, its operations have been extended to twenty -one. In 
some of these — Cork, Mayo, Limerick, Tipperary, Queen's, Wexford, and 
Lowth — it may now be said to have firmly taken root ; and iu the rest, it is in 
a greater or less state of progress, according to the circumstances of the districts 
or the period at which the society took them iu charge. Where the flax has 
been extensively grown during the late years of distress, it has been of the 
utmost service to the poorer class of farmers by enabling them to reserve for the 
support of their families and live stock the food crops that would have otherwise 
gone to pay rent and taxes, but whose place for this purpose flax has supplied. 
The amount of employment thus given has been very great, more especially to 
the weaker classes of the population. And it has paved the way to an improved 
system of husbandry by the attention which it exacts in the preparation of the 
soil. 

" When the society was instituted, flax was the only crop in which the Irish 
farmer had to maintain an open competition with the foreigner. While all kinds 
of grain, produce, and cattle were subject to high duties on importation, the 
duty on foreign flax had been reduced to a mere nominal amount. This pre- 
mium upon other crops resulted in the neglect of flax, notwithstanding the 
peculiar suitability of our soil and climate for its growth. A change, however, 
has now occurred in this respect." ***** 

England has become famous for her threads, and at the present time there 
are upwards of eighty spinning-mills in Ireland, in which fully half a million of 
spindles are daily employed, and the manufacture is now ahead of the agricul- 
tural production. 

RUSSIA. 

Mr. Ward tells us m tiis pamphlet that, of the 150,000 tons of flax annually 
consumed in the United Kingdom, 70,000 tons only are of home growth, while 
80,000 tons are imported. Of this, Russia supplies 60,000 tons, which was 
formerly rendered at from $120 to 8144 per ton. 

The extensive cultivation of flax in that country is mainly owing to the allu- 
vial soil upt.tn which it is grown, and the low price of labor among the serfs. 
The vast plains of the interior are traversed by large rivers which annually 
overflow and leave .a rich deposit upon the soil, which encourages the growth 
of the crops. The soil is well adapted to the flax culture, but a want of care 
accounts for the low grade of Russian flax. The quality of the fibre varies, 
however, and is partly distinguished by its color. The silver-colored is the 
best, and that from Wasnikow and Carclia is remarkable for a shining white- 
ness. It is mostly brought from beyond Moscow by water, in large, flat- bot- 
tomed boats or barges. Several thousand of these reach the lake Ladoga in 
the spring and summer. Greater care is taken in sorting the flax at Riga than 
at St. Petersburgh, hence the superiority and greater trade at this point. 

The following table will show the sources from which the British demand is 



10 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

in a great measure supplied, giving Russia credit for a still larger share of the 
supply : 

From Dickson's work it appears that the Belfast flax sijinners report, that in 
1832 the yarns exported from Ireland were valued at $25,000; but that — so 
great had been the hicrease of the production during the next twelve years — 
in 1843 the export amounted to SG, 000. 000. 

The linen manufactures of Great liritain are estimated by the same author 
at more than twenty millions of dollars. 

The average annual production of fibre, in the chief countries where flax is 
grown, is given by Dr. lire as follows: 

Russia 130,000 tons. 

France 48,000 " 

Belgium 18,000 " 

Holland 9,000 " 

Austria - 60,000 " 

Prussia 32,000 " 

Ireland 35,000 " 

Egypt 10,000 " 

Total 342,000 " 



Adding all other countries, the amount may be estimated at 400,000 tons. 
The value of this fibre may be 8100,000,000, and of the seed produced, 
$25,000,000, making a total value of the raw material of flax amounting to 
one hundred and twenty-five millions, which has its value very much enhanced 
by the processes of manufacture into woven fabrics or into oil. 

From Morton's Cyclopa3dia of Agriculture we learn that iu six years the 
total importation of flax was : 

In 1840 62,662 tons. 

1841 67,368 

1842 55,113 

1843 71,857 

1844 79,174 

1S45 70,921 



Total 407,095 



Thus the flax imports during those six years give an annual 
average of 67,849 tons, which, at a fair valuation, or c-£67 
(S335) per ton, is equal to $22, 729, 415 

Add annual imports of flax-seeds for sowing and feeding, 616,000 
quarters, (English,) valued at c£4 per quarter, being twenty 
shillings per quarter below the price for many years iu Ire- 
land 12, 320, 000 

Add annual imports of oil-cake, 86,000 tons, valued at <£d 

per ton 3, 870, 000 

Total 38, 919, 415 



The same authority informs ns in respect to the individual and personal ad- 
vantages Avliidi flax culture will confer on the former. The following instances 
arc actual facts bearing on this subject. Flax has been grown to lea-ve a profit 
of $100 per Irish acre, (eight of which are nearly thirteen imperial acres,) after 
papng expcnfics, wliich is verified by the following statement : 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 11 

Dr. Flax. 

lleut of one acre of land dfi 1 6a-. 9(Z. 

2i bushels seed 1 10 3 

Plonghing and sowing 15 

12 bauds, weeding 12 

12 bands, pulling 18 

6 bands, watering and grassing 10 

Lifting and carting borne 8 

Scutcbing 60 stone 3 

Taxes and rates 1 



Total 10 



Contra Cr. 
By produce of one acre of second quality of flax, 60 stone, at 

10 shillings c£30 Os. Od. 

Deduct rent and expenses 10 



Net profit 20 

Or $]00 00 



Again : Mr. "Warnes, of Trimmingbam, of Norfolk, in one of bis published 
letters on this subject, says: "A great proportion of my flax is produced at the 
rate of one ton from three acres of land, or at £,S5 per ton, at the rate of c±'28 
per acre; or at c£53 per ton, at c£J7 10*. per acre, exclusive of seed, which, in 
some instances, amounted to twenty-six and twenty-eight bushels per acre; 
but taking twenty as the average, at the present prices of English linseed, 667 
per acre may be added to the above sum." 

By this statement Mr. Warnes, it appears, can, by growing the coarse quality 
of flax at c£53 per ton, have for the produce of one acre: Flax, <:£17; seed, <£7 ; 
gross produce, =£24. 

And I may add a few certificates in further proof of my assertions as to the 
profits made by flax culture when a proper system has been followed : 

Model Farm, Cahdon, November 29, 1845. 
Sm : lu answer to yours of the 24th, I have much pleasure in favoring you with an account 
of the flax crop, and expenses thereon, grown on the Earl of Caledon's model farm in 1845: 

CROP. 

Produce of 1 acre, 1 rood, 39 perches, sold at lis. 3d. per stone £55 16s. 7d. 

Tow, (or shorts of the flax) 8 8 

loU bushels of bolls, which I consider worth 8s. per bushel 4 6 8 



60 14 3 



EXPENSES OF CROP. 



5 bushels of seed, at 15s. S^d. per bushel £3 16s. 6d. 

Weeding 10 

Pulling, rippling, and steeping 4 3 8 

Taking out of steep and spreading 2 1 4 

Lifting and tying 12 8 

Scutching 4 9 4 

16 3 6 
Leaving a balance of £44 10s. 9d, or, at the rate of £29 13s. lOrf. per acre after deducting 
all expenses. 

It is but fair to add that we had to carry tlie flax to and from the steep on barrows for eight 
perches, as the steep was in a bog. 

JOHN BARE, Manager. 
J, "W. Adams, Esq. 



12 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OK HEMP FOR COTTON. 



ANALYSIS OF THE CROPS. 

Professor Kane read a paper before the Irisli Academy, in which he pointed 
out that many C)f our most vaUiablc vegetable productions were composed chiefly 
of simple compounds of a few elements combined with very small portions of 
the mineral elements of the soil; among these are sugar, gum, starch, and 
ligneous fibre. 

Though the valuable product be thus constituted, it is observed that the 
plants which are most productive of these substances must be in a vigorous, 
healthy state of growth, and that, in their development, various mineral elements 
of the soil must be consumed by them; therefore they are exhaustive crops. 
But as the valued product does not contain them, the waste portions may be re- 
turned to the soil to keep up its fertility. 

Prof. Kane presented a series of analyses, which he had made to determine 
their constituents. 

The stem of hemp, dried at 212° Fahrenheit, he found to contain — 

Carbon 39.94 

Hydrogen 6.06 

Oxygen 48.72 

Nitrogen 1.74 

Ashes 4.54 



100.00 



The leaves of hemp contained — 

Carbon 40.50 

Hydrogen 5.98 

Nitrogen 1.82 

Oxygen 29.70 

Ashes 22.00 



100.00 



The ashes of the hemp-plant consisted of — 

Potash 7.48 

Soda 72 

Lime 42.05 

I\r;ignesia 4.88 

Alumina .37 

Silica 6.75 

Phosphoric acid 3.22 

Sulphuric acid 1.10 

Chlorine 1.53 

Carbonic acid 31.90 



100.00 



Dressed hemp fibre gave but 1.4 per cent, of ashes, after having been dried 
at 212° Fahrenheit. Its organic composition is similar to that of woody fibre, 
and devoid of nitrogen. The characteristic constituents are lime and nitrogen. 
The substances dissolved by water ia steeping hemp contain a narcotic principle 
used in medicine. Sir Robert Kane evaporated some of this liquor to dryness 
and analyzed the product, with the following results : 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 13 



Hemp extract. 

Carbon 28.28 

Hydrogen 4.16 

Nitrogen 3.2S 

Oxygen 15.08 

Ashes 49.20 



100.00 



Exclusive of the ashes, in the same proportion, we have — 

Carbon 55.66 

Hydrogen 8.21 

Nitrogen 6.45 

Oxygen 29.68 



100.00 



Approaching azotized animal substances in its composition, and forming a 
very rich manurial application. The ashes of the hemp-leaves contain only 
8.05 per cent, of soluble matter, while those from the hemp extract had 60.4 
per cent, of soluble matter. 

He next examined the stem after it had been steeped and peeled. After dry- 
ing at the usual temperature, he found that this matter consisted of — 

Carbon 56.80 

Hydrogen 6.48 

Nitrogen .43 

Oxygen 34.52 

Ashes 1.77 



100.00 



The ashes contain but a trace of alkali, and the nitrogen is in very small 
quantity. Hence it appears that, though hemp be an exhausting crop, the val- 
uable fibre takes up but a small portion of the wealth of the soil, and that the 
valuable elements are left upon the farm. 

Mr. Kane's examinations as to the composition of flax led to similar conclu- 
sions, as will appear from the following analysis : 

The stems of flax dried, with some leaves, yielded — 

Carbon 38.72 

Hydrogen 7,33 

Nitrogen .5Q 

Oxygen 48.39 

Ashes 5.00 



100.00 



The flax contains very little nitrogen. In hemp there is more oxygen than 
necessary to form water with the hydrogen ; but in flax there is an excess of 
hydrogen. The composition of the ashes is also difl"erent, as will be seen by 
the table : 



li SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Potash ^-^S 

Soda ^-82 

Lime 12-33 

Magnesia ^-^^ 

Alumina ^-^^ 

Silica 21.35 

Pliosplioric acid 10.84 

Sulphuric acid 2.G5 

Chlorine '- 2.41 

Carbouic acid 16.95 

100.00 



Lime is in smaller proportions ; soda, potash, magnesia, and phosphoric acid 
are in larger proportion ; hence the exhausting properties of the crop are ex- 
plained. 

The extract from the steep water, properly dried, yielded — 

Carbon 30.60 

Hydrogen 4.24 

nitrogen 2.24 

Oxygen 20.80 

Ashes 42.01 

100.00 



The ashes of the plant yielded .33.90 per cent, of soluble matters ; that from 
the extract gave sixty per cent, of soluble matter; lience the value as a manure 
of the steep water. The composition of the waste, or stem, from which the fibre 
had been removed, was very similar to the corresponding portion of the hemp. 

We should also investigate the constitution of what are considered the waste 
products of the flax crop, and in so doing we are delighted to lind that, accord- 
ing to the analysis of Mr. Way, the slaves contain, of oil and fatty matters, 
7.02 per cent.; of albuminous matter, 9.93 per cent.; of starch, gum, sugar, &c., 
26.29 per cent.; so that this dry woody substance, as it appears when cursorily 
examined, is really a valuable substance for stock-feeding. How much more so 
when separated from the unrotted straw may be readily imagined. 

Professor Hodges gives a somewhat different result as derived from hisinves- 
ti"-ations, with other specimens. He found of nitrogenous matters 3.23 per cent.; 
ot^oil and fatty matters, 2.91 per cent.; of gum and soluble matters, 14.66 per 

cent. 

An analysis of the residual oil-cake by the same authority gives, as the 
average of seven examinations — 

Nitrogenous matters 28.47 per cent. 

Fatty matters 12.90 

Gum and soluble matters 39.01 " 

80.38 " 



Showing the great value of this material for stock-feeding. 

It must be remembered that the seed crop is brought to the market for two 
distinct purposes — for sowing as seed, and for the production of oil and the re- 
sultiu."- oil-cake. Different regions of the globe are called upon to furnish sup- 
plies ibr these several objects. That which is sold for sowing is all produced 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 15 

in the northern couutries, while that which is purchased exchisively for the man- 
ufacture of oil is brought from Russia, Hiudostan, and the southern portions of 
Europe. In a large portion of the United States also this crop is grown almost 
exclusively for the production of oil. 

Professor Hodges, of the Society of Belfast, gives the following comparative 
analysis of the New Zealand flax, Phonnium lenax, and of common flax, grown 
in Ireland : 

The ashes, respectively, contained — 

New Zealand. Ireland. 

Potash 14.93 20.32 

Soda 5.38 2.07 

Chloride of sodium 8.75 9.27 

Lime 28.52 -19.58 

Magnesia 1-41 4.05 

Oxide of 'iron 1.21 2.83 

Sulphuric acid 4.64 7.13 

Phosphoric acid 18.96 10.24 

Carbonic acid 13.12 10.72 

Silica 3.86 12.80 



100.78 99.01 



[From Morton's Cydopccdia.'] 

ANALYSIS OP SOILS. 

" The composition of the soil on which the cultivation of flax may best 1)e carried on, being 
a problem of the highest practical interest to this country, the Flax Improvement Society of 
Ireland commissioned their agent to make analysis of some soils which had produced re- 
markably good flax. The soils were light clay loams, and afforded the following results, 
which are extracted from the report of the society : 

No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 

Silica and silicious sand 73.72 69.41 64.93 

Oxide of iron 5.51 5.29 5.64 

Alumina 6.65 5.70 8.97 

Phosphate of iron 06 .25 .31 

Carbonate of lime 1.09 53 1.67 

Magnesia and alkalies, Avith traces of sulphuric and muriatic acids. -. .32 .25 .45 

Organic matters 4.86 6.67 9.41 

Water ■. 7..57 11.48 8.73 

99.78 99.58 100.11 

The organic matter in these soils was rich in nitrogen; their fertility is, therefore, from the 
analysis, easily understood. 

At a meeting of the society Sir Robert Kane said : 

"Every farmer present is aware that crops exhaust the soil; that the plants take out of the 
ground a number of materials, and that it is necessary to restore similar materials to the soil 
in order to keep up its fertility ; therefore, the manure Avliich the farmer puts in with or be- 
fore his seed is, in a degree, the raw material of which the grown crop is made. It is just 
as much a part of the plant as the seed itself. Then the farmer sells and sends away his 
grown crop to be used for food, as in the case of wheat, oats, and potatoes — he thereby sends 
away and sells the essence of the manure which he had put into the ground; and as he thus 
gets paid for the manure which he has exhausted, he must put in as nmch more for the next 
crop, which is to be dealt with in tlie same way. Now, in the case of flax, there is the im- 
portant peculiarity that it is not eaten, and hence does not return to the land any manure in 
the ordinary way, whilst it takes out of the soil just the same materials as oats or potatoes, 
so that it is really a very exhausting crop, if we look only to the growing of it. But the flax 
crop diS'ers from other crops in this, that the value of oats or polatoes, and all food crops, 
depends on what they take out of the ground, whilst the valuable part of the flax is the tine 
fibre, or thread, which has taken nothing out of the ground. If you burn a bundle of flax stalks 
it will leave behind a large quantity of white ashes, which consists of the different substancea 



16 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

uliich tlic plant took out of tlic ground ; but if you burn a bundle of %vcll-drcsscd flax it will 
leave «o Uithcs. Tliey luive evidently been carried off with tlie waste parts of the jilant in 
the stee])infj and sfutchinp. They are thrown awaj^, and yet they are materials of which 
the i)lant iiad robbed the soil, and which should be given back to the land in order to keep 
up its fertility. To the jiractical i'armer it is, therelbre, of the greatest iui])ortance to recollect 
this principle, that the iibre, or valuable part of the; llax, is not formed by the exhaustion of 
the soil, but the materials which the j)lant takes out of the land are all found in the steep- 
water and the cliatf; and that it these be returned to the earth they will restore its fertility, 
and that tlius the tlax croj) may be rendered one of the least injurious to the ground and 
most remunerative to the farmer." 

The true analyses of the fibre, as given above, show that it does yield ashes, 
and tlint this docs contain inorganic or mineral matter, though in very small 
amount, as will be shown. We must now present some testimony of an 
opposite character and equally imposing : 

Professor Hodges states that the "result of an analysis of the fibre of the flax plant proves 
that that i)art of the plant is not destitute of matters derived from the soil," and that the 
scutching' tow contained a still larger projiortion of such elements. The professor admits 
that "flax is an exhausting crop; that is, like every other plant that is cultivated for food or 
clothing, or that springs up along the highway, it takes certain matters from the soil. When 
only a i)art of thi' plant, like wheat, is sent to market only a jjart of the matters of the soil 
is lost to the farm, anti its exhaustion is delayed." But he claims that flax is not so exhaustive 
as some other crops, and gives the following table showing the amount of phosphoric acid 
and alkalies contained in a hundred parts of the-ash of several plants : 

Phosphoric acid. Potash &. soda. 

Flax 7 12 

Wheatstraw 3 13 

Oat straw 3 29 

Bean straw 7 55 

Kedclover 8 36 

Cabbage 12 32 

Potato stallvs 7 44 

Turnip tops 9 34 

Mr, Ward says that flax cannot be an impoverishing crop to the farmer, as 
the seed and chaff make better manures, when the cattle are fed with it, than 
any other fodder, Liebig states that the seed and refuse of the plant are rich 
in phosphates. 

It has been ascertained in Scotland and in England that the finest crops of 
wheat may be grown immediately after flax in a rotation, and this is confirmed 
by the statements of some of the most intelligent farmers of Ohio, many of 
whom speak very highly of the flax crop to take the place of a naked summer 
fallow as a preparation for wheat, and some very fine crops of wheat have been 
harvested after flax. 

Hence it may safely be concluded that flax is not a remarkably exhausting 
crop, although it belongs to that class called man-crops, in England called 
white-crops, which do not usually make any important return to the land, and 
which may therefore, to the extent of the valuable elements they withdraw 
from the soil, be fairly considered exhausting. And yet flax is to be continued 
in a suitable rotation to take its place with other profitable; crops. 

It is fortunate for us that flax has a very wide range of soils in which it may 
be cultivated : Sands, loams, light and heavy clays, gravels, chalk, marls, 
alluvials, peat, and reclaimed marsh lands, are all seen, under ordinary circum- 
stances, to produce a crop of this fibre. Sandy loams and alluvials appear, 
however, to be best adapted to its cultivation. In Ireland large crops are ob- 
tained on peat bogs, with a clay substratum. This plant needs an open soil 
tLrough which the water may percolate freely, as its roots are of a fibrous 
nature and extend both laterally and vertically to a considerable distance. The 
conditions required for its successful cultivation are that the soil be deep, in 
good heart and in good tilth, well drained, and free from weeds ; if these exist, 
we may, under orclinary circumstances, expect a good crop. Owing to the 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OE HEMP FOE COTTON. 17 

rapid growth of tlie plant, and the consequent shortness of time it occupies the 
land, it offers many opportunities to the grower, and admits of more changes iu 
the rotation than most other farm crops. 

In some of the best J3«^ian flax districts the soil is a sandy loam, containing 
as much as ninety per «Mrt:. of silicious matter, and depends for its superior ex- 
cellence entirely upon the persevering industry of its skilful cultivators. A 
moderately tenacious subsoil, neither so .loose as to allow the water to run away 
too rapidly, nor so compact as to cause it to stagnate about the roots of the 
plants, is considered by the continental farmers as the most desirable. The 
soil must be deep, and the Belgians have a popular saying that the flax has 
roots which go as deep into the soil as the stem grows above the ground. 

In our own country we find a great variety of soils that appear well adapted 
to the production of this crop. River alluvials,. level uplands, mucky flats, and 
the deep, black prairies of the west, particularly those that rest upon a strong 
clay subsoil, sufficiently deep below the surface, are all of them well adapted to 
the growth of flax. 

Mr. Deuman, a Belgian gentleman who was employed by the Royal Flax 
Society of Ireland as a teacher of the proper methods of managing the crop, 
recommends as of the greatest importance in the culture of flax that the land 
be well drained and repeatedly and carefully cleansed from weeds, and thus 
reduced to the finest, deepest, and cleanest tilth, iu order to facilitate the pene- 
tration of the roots, which often go to a depth equal to the height of the plant 
above ground. 

"A light ploughing immediately after harvest is required for all soils; but if they be heavy 
and stifl', they should be laid iu ridges before winter, and thus to remain until a fortnight before 
sowing, when they should be deeply ploughed. Light soils may have their last ploughing 
before the setting in of winter. If the land be not sufficiently rich, liquid manure or rape-cake 
powder should be applied before sowing the seed, after which it should be harrowed and rolled, 
and should look like a garden." 

As the expense of preparing grass land directly for flax may be too great, he 
advises that some other crop should intervene, of such plants as do not occupy 
the land long, and which require the frequent stirring of the earth, such as 
beans, peas, turnips, &c ; we should say Indian corn. This cultivation will 
have the effect of rendering the sod sufficiently fine and loose, and will help to 
kill the weeds which would otherwise be a serious injury to the flax crop. It 
is asserted that the Livonians, when clearing' a forest, burn the wood upon 
the surface as a preparation for flax, and that they prefer soil thus prepared to 
all others. Stiff soils should be exposed to the action of winter frosts, to loosen 
their textures, and when not too wet in February, some rotten manure may be 
ploughed in. 

Denman recommends from two to two and a half bushels of seed to the acre, 
when sowed broadcast ; but if the laud is rich and the season favorable, there 
may be danger of sowing too much seed, as the flax will lodge, and the fibre 
will be materially damaged. When drilled, a smaller quantity will be sufficient ; 
and if the intervals be wide, half the quantity -will suffice. He recommends 
from the middle of March to the middle or end of April as the best time for 
sowing in that country. In the south of Europe it is sown iu September and 
October, but these autumnal-sown crops are not so productive in fibre as the spring- 
sown fields, though their product of seed is better. It is kxid down as a general 
rule that land intended for flax should be brought to an exceedingly fine tilth 
before the seed is put in, and that it should be enriched by suitable manure. 

The roots of flax penetrate deeply ; therefore the soils best adapted to the 
crop are such as consist of a deep loam, which is not liable to be surcharged 
with moisture on the one hand, nor to become too dry on the other, and which 
is susceptible of receiving a veiy fine tilth ; river bottoms are generally of this 
character. If water exist permanently a short distance below the surface, it is 
Ex. Doc. 35 2 



18 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

1 y some considered an advantage to the crop, as i! the case in Zealand, wliicli 
country is remarkable for the fineness of ils flax, and where the soil is deep 
and rather stiil' with water almost everywhere at one and one and a half or two 
feet below the surface. If well niamired and well tilled, and if the seasons be 
not too dry, fine flax can also be produced on elevated lands. The soil should 
neither be too rich, so as to make the flax coarse from its luxuriance, nor too 
much exhaused, so that the yield would be small. Neither light sandy soils 
nor hungry gravels are recommended for this crop. 

A great deal of our prairie lands in the western States contains a soil which 
is admirably adapted to the production of flax, and the experiments which have 
been stimulated within a few years by the high price of seed, and by the intro- 
duction of machinery for the preparation of the product, have most abundantly 
demonstrated the admirable character and adaptability to this object of im- 
mense tracts of land in the prairie States which now are lying in a state of nature, 
or merely used for grazing. 

Flax culture requires very careful preparation of the land ; deep tillage, and 
thorough pulverization of the earth is very essential to success. By these 
means flax may be grown to advantage on almost any soils, though some are 
much better adapted to it than others. The best is considered to be a sound 
clay loam, or a dry loam with a clay subsoil; but this must not be too compact, 
and is always better for being loosened, and by all means well drained, for if 
saturated with water above or below, it will injure the flax. Nor is it consid- 
ered in Flanders good policy to grow successive crops of this plant ; once in 
ten years is sufficient. In this country farmers pay little attention to the subject 
of rotation of crops, which is found to be a matter of great importance in the 
improved agriculture of Europe. 

A favorite rotation in Flanders is : 1st, potatoes ; 2d, barley, seeded with 
grasses ; 3d, meadow, cut for soiling stock ; 4th, pasture ; 5th, flax, or one 
half in oats, so that on the return of the rotation the part that was in oats may 
be put into flax. 

After wheat one ploughing is deemed sufficient hi Ireland on light soils; but 
two are still better, and three are better still. In this country a fall ploughing is 
very desirable, and this should be stirred as early as practicable in the spring; 
the harrow should follow, reducing the soil to a very fine tilth ; if the ground be 
very loose on one hand, or at all cloddy on the other, it Avill be well to roll 
before sowing. After applying the seed as evenly as possible, a brush harrow, 
or light harrow with short teeth, should be drawn across the surface, and in 
some cases the roller should be applied to render the field as smooth as possible 
and to compress the earth about the seed, so as to insure its early vegetation 
and to have it come up as evenly as possible. 

The quantity of seed sown per acre is a question upon which there is great 
diversity of opinion among farmers as well as among writers upon this subject, 
the amounts varying from half a bushel to three bushels and a half. The 
smallest quantity is that commonly applied in this country, where the farmer 
grows this crop exclusively for the seed find takes no care for the fibre. The 
plants not being crowded, branch freely and produce a greater amount of 
flowers and seed to each individual than where crowded. This error, which is 
very injurious to the •character of the fibre, should be combated by all who 
desire to see the highest results from the encouragement of this important crop 
in our country. 

Mr. Todd, author of the prize essay offered by the American Agriculturist, 
insists upon a thorough preparation of the soil ; but, having sown the seed, he 
will not allow a hoof to trespass upon the mellow earth, preferring to use a light 
brush hjirrow drawn by hand, which, he says, can be done almost as fast as 
the seed is sowed. His objection to the introduction of the team with either 
brui?h, harrow or roller upon the soft, mellow earth, is that the heavy tramping 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OE HE:<IP FOR COTTON. 19 

of tlie auimals cannot fail to make depressions that would bury portions of the 
seed too deeply and cause it to vegetate unevenly. He thinks a light brush, 
which merely hides the seed, covers it sufficiently. The brush harrow is made 
by boring holes in a piece of scantling, into which bushy twigs two feet long 
are fastened. If more brush is needed, additional pieces are nailed on to the 
scantling ; a light pair of shafts are secured to the brush-head, by which the 
machine may be dragged steadily by a man or boy. 

Our western farmers, especially, who grow the crop almost exclusively for 
the seed alone, sow but half a bushel, or at most three pecks; but in the eastern 
States, on poorer soil, the farmers desiring to secure crops both of seed and of 
fibre, sow iive pecks, and it is found that they obtain a larger amount of seed 
per acre than the average in the west. In Europe two bushels, and even more, 
is a very common allowance for seeding an acre, where it is desirable to produce 
a fine lint, and they also often harvest twenty bushels of seed. Some experi- 
ments in heavy seeding in the United States have not proved entirely satisfac- 
tory, for though the stalks were very fine and slender, and the Hut produced 
was very fine, the straw was too short; this may have arisen from the poverty 
of the soil where the thick seeding was tried. In the thoroughly farmed and 
highly manured fields of the flax region of Belgium, we find the largest amounts 
of seed are sown with the best results; on such lands, deeply cultivated and 
highly enriched with liquid manures, three bushels of seed to the acre has 
yielded crops of flax that gave very fine lint, the straw being three feet high, 
and valued at one hundred dollars per acre in the field ; for, in Belgium the 
farmer sells his crop to the manufacturer, and is relieved from further care after 
it is ready to harvest. 

There are immense tracts of excellent flax lauds in our country, and there is 
no doubt that, with proper care and sufficient seed, our rich alluvions will pro- 
duce a superior quality of lint whenever the enterprise of the manufacturers 
shall elaborate and produce proper machinery for the preparation of the crop ; 
a desideratum which this commission is happy to announce has already come 
near to its accomplishment, as will be shown under the Head of machinery in 
the mechanical section of the report. • 

But to return to the seeding : we consider it very important that a sufficient 
amount of seed be applied to the soil ; whatever that amount shall be, must be 
settled by the experience of the farmer in each section of the country. In sowing 
the flax it will be of the greatest importance to the crop to have it evenly spread 
upon the surface, and this, while a matter of great moment, is not easy to accom- 
plish. The seed is very smooth and slippery, and great skill, derived from long 
practice, is necessary to distribute it evenly. It has been suggested that this 
work may be best done by the use of some of our broadcast sowing machines 
properly adapted to this seed. The drill machines may be used if properly 
adjusted for this crop, but the rows must be made very close to "prevent the 
straw from branching. In broadcast sowing the plants should stand at about 
one inch apart over the field. Great care should be taken to have the seed per- 
fectly clean, and the soil selected for flax should not be foul with seeds of weeds, 
which are very injurious to the flax crop ; nor can we ever expect to hand-weed 
our fields in this country, as is constantly done in the flax culture in Europe. 

In the flax regions of the Old World there is a great prejudice against using 
home-grown seed, and we have found in this country also an impression in favor 
of importing seed, under the idea that the plant has got used to yielding lint 
there, and has become habituated to yielding seed only in this country. This 
is a mere theory without any foundation whatever ; and, on the contrary, the 
American and Riga seed are preferred in Europe for the opposite reason, as it is 
argued that, where the crop has been grown for the seed alone, these will have 
been better npened and more robust than when the crop has been crowded and 
prematurely harvested for the sake of the fibre. Some very carefully-conducted 



20 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



experiments to ascertain the vsilue of different kinds of seed are reported in the 
proceedings of the Flax Society of IreUind, from which it appears that the 
home-grown Irish seed yielded the best results, as will be seen from the tables 
given. The season having been very unfavorable, the amounts arc not large, but 
answer for a comparison : 



■ 

Kind of seed. 


Clean flax. 


Sood. 


Flax per acre. 


Seed per acre. 




Pounds. 
42 
54 
49 
70 
45 


Quarts. 
46 
40 
44 
42 
40 


Pounds, 
336 
432 
391 
540 
360 


Bushels, 
1>^ 


Xcw Riga 

Dutch - 


10 
11 


Irish 


lOJ 


01(1 Riga 


10 







In Eiu-ope, aftei the ground has been pulverized and well cleaned, it is rolled 
and sown ; and if the land has not been ploughed in ridges, the sm-face is 
marked off in divisions eight or ten feet wide. After sowing, the seed-harrow is 
passed over the ground three times, forward, back, and across, or anglewise, so 
that the seed shall be equally spread, and the land furrows be filled up. The 
work is finished by the roller, which compresses the soil about the seeds, that 
are buried about an inch deep. It is desirable to have them vegetate as evenly 
as possible. Grass seeds are sometimes sown with the flax, but if they grow 
well it must be at the expense of the crop. 

The writer of the prize essay, above alluded to, makes an admirable sugges- 
tion with regard to sowing flaxseed, which is a process that is universally rep- 
resented as a very nice matter, to be well executed, on account of the smooth 
and slippery character of the seed. lie advises and reports a.s his practice the 
partial soaking of the seed, and then rolling it, or rather mixing it, while wet, 
Avith ground plaster, that enables him to handle it readily, and to distribute it 
evenly upon the ground, where its early vegetation is accelerated by the addition 
of this material. 

From the latest accounts of the statistics of Ohio, it is manifest that the flax 
crop has been much increased in area. . Mr. Mansfield, the statistical reporter of 
that State, reports that the breadth of flax in 1862 was 52,546 acres, but in 1863 
it had extended to 95,170 acres. 

The following very practical remarks were communicated to the commission 
by W. S. Lowrey, of Saratoga Springs, New York, and are introduced on 
account of their worth and brevity : 

In thi3 section the past year flax produced but one half the crop of ordinary seasons of 
both seed and fibre. 

Soil. — Heavy clay loam stands first best as regards both fibre and seed. Gravelly loam 
second best, or produced but half a crop. Light sandy loam and coarse gravel third best, 
or from one-fourth to one-sixteenth of a crop the past season. 

Preparation of soil. — We plough well. Harrow three or four times previous to sowing, to 
form tt good seed bed. Time of sowing from the Mth of May to 30th. Flax, to coat well, 
must grow in cool wcatlier. Quantity of seed I sowed, one and a quarter bushel per acre ; 
one and a hall" would have been better. 

Time to pa/Z.— This sliould be done when one-half to two-thirds of the bolls arc brown 
Allow me to remark that work on the flax crop has just commenced at this period of its 
growth, and that if the flax is uneven, poorly coated, Jind in the wet spots badly lodged, it will 
l»e impossible by any method to produce good fibre. On the other hand, if the flax is in 
quality aud yield of fibre prime at this stage, and aire be not exercised in handling and rota- 
ting, the result will bo the same. Many of tho best crops in the country were spoiled the pa-st 
season by carelessncns in handling nud overrotting. Acres were badly damaged, and hundreds 
lil' dollars lost by making too largo bundles to cure well at the time of pulling. They should 
be just largo enough to roach around with both hands, fingers and thumbs touching. 

Method of pulling. — Clasp several straws in the right hand, pass them to tho left, and pull 
with both hands. Repeat this until tho hand is fuU, hiy this down, repeat again, and then 
tie both handfuls in one bundle. At night we eet up all that is pulled during the day in 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 21 

loose stocks. This method preserves uniformity in curing, and part of the flax is not sun- 
burned while the other is green and unfit for sheltering. As soon as it is dry draw it into 
the l)arn to whip. 

Whipping. — Place a flat stone on the barn floor, with one edge inclined to an angle of 
forty-flve degrees, set another under it to block it up, clasp the bundle with both hands near 
the roots, raise it, and, with a smart stroke bring it down across the stone. Repeat it several 
times, until the seeds are mostly broken from the straw. Clean the seed with a fanning mill. 

Rotting. — The common method is to spread the flax in thin swaths on close fed meadows, 
exposed to the dew, until the shive parts readily from the fibre. It is then turned bottom 
side upwards by running a pole under the straw ; after three or four days longer it is raked 
and bound to convey to the barn. A better method is to place the straw in large beds on the 
surface of a shallow pond of soft water, roots uppermost and tops down, place some slabs 
or boards on the roots loaded with stones to sink it, and in from twenty-four to forty-eight 
hours, and from that to two weeks, according to the temperature, it will become soft, and the 
shive will part readily from the fibre. We then take it out and dry it on the grass by spreading 
it in thin swaths, and when dry rake, bind, and set it in stooks to air. When it is well aired 
it is not splintery like the dew-rot, but wiry and tough like a withe. The best way to rot 
flax we think we have discovered. This method is the perfection of simplicity, enabling any 
man who has an unfailing suj^ply of soft water, with less than five hundred dollars capital, 
to rot flax for five dollars per ton, in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and in less time 
with larger capital and conveniences ; the fibre every way being equal to water-rotted flax 
by the common method. 

Why water-rot is better than dew-rot. 1st. It saves from fifty to one hundred pounds 
dressed flax to the ton, of the same quality. 2d. It finds a ready sale at the highest market 
price, and buyers assure us that in large lots it will command a premium over the dew-rotted. 
3d. It is more durable. For proof, lay flax rotted by the two methods side and side, exposed 
to the action of the weather. 4th. The first method rots ; the second cures. 

Why we rot flax. 1st. There is a market for rotted flax at fair prices. 2d. We have at 
present no better method of preparing flax fibre. 3d. W^e rot because manufacturers leave for 
the farmer to do what should be done at the mill — a serious difiiculty in the way of its ex 
tensive cultivation, which we believe can be obviated by adopting our method. 

Severe sickness in the family prevents my writing but a few facts. Those few, however 
can be proved. 

Yours, for the success of flax culture, 

WM. S. LOWREt. 

Herman von Bielke, of Bon, Sclileswig, who is said to be a practical flax- 
grower, makes tlie following statement : 

" Although in general the saving of seed is rather injurious to the flax, yet it is very desira- 
ble, for many reasons, that every flax-grower should yearly appropriate a small part of his 
flax ground, and especially that where it grows the thinnest, for the saving of seed. In the first 
place, because the Russian seed does not generally produce such fine flax as that which has been 
saved on the spot ; secondly, because the grower is certain that, by proper and careful treat- 
ment of the saved seed, he will have what he can depend upon. This is not always the case 
with Russian seed, which is frequently either too old or too much dried by storing, from 
which it always sufters, or it is mixed by the dealers with other seed. Thirdly, because 
the Russian seed is often at so high a price in the spring. The seed should be allowed to 
ripen well before harvesting, and may be treated according to the Courtrai method; that is, 
dried in bundles in the field and not rippled till the winter or spring following. The capsules 
should not be threshed clean at first, to separate only the best seed. Seed of two or three 
years old is better for producing fine lint. If new seed be sown, it should first be thinly 
spread upon an airy floor, and frequently turned. It is not necessary to renew the seed from 
abroad if proper care be taken to select it. A- small part of the crop may be allowed to stand 
till fully ripe." 

Some of our best agriculturists have arrived at similar conclusions with re- 
gard to the choice of seed, and consider it always safest to select a portion of 
their own crop from which to save their seed. This is allowed to ripen fully, 
and, when dry, it is subjected to just so much action in threshing as shall 
separate only the ripest and heaviest seed, which is kept by itself, after being 
thoroughly cleaned from admixture of the seeds of weeds and imperfectly developed 
grains. This seed should be very carefully preserved, so that it shall neither 
contract moisture, nor be subject to heating in bulk. It should be moved oc- 
casionally from one cask to another to prevent the latter result. 

In purchasing seed, the heaviest, brightest, and plumpest should always be 
selected, and that which has not been mixed from different crops should be pre- 
ferred. 



22 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Mr. Ward tells us that tbe siiccessful cixltivation of this crop does not so 
much depeud upon the quality of the soil, the nature of the climate, or the 
amount of capital and labor applied to it, as upon the favorable inllueuce -which 
the first two may exercise when combined with the judicious application of the 
others. . When all these elements of production are in harmonious co-operation 
the result may be easily. predicted; but when one or other of them is deficient, 
or pariially defective, it becomes no easy task to assign to each its power or 
agency. Thi« complication of production is widely extended in Belgium, and 
largely predominates in the flax. districts; for the general condition of the soil 
is by no means so favorable for agricultural processes as that of Ireland, nor is 
the climate comparable to that of the latter as regards the flux plant; but the 
amount of labor which the Belgians so energetically and so judiciously apply 
to their soil more than compensates for any elementary deficiency that may 
exist. The old maxim that success crowns labor, therefore, deservedly charac- 
terizes agricultural pursuits in Belgium, and its application is never more justly 
felt than when it gives point to a material fact such as the flax cultivation of 
that industrious country presents. 

A great portion of the soil of Belgium is alluvial, pai'tly formed by the re- 
cession of the sea, and partly by the elevation of the land, the country being 
chiefly made up of the deltas of the great rivers of Europe — the Rhine, the 
Scheldt, and the ]\Ieuse. The agriculture of Holland and Belgium is therefore 
arable; artificial means are requisite to bring the soil under cultivation. The 
soils are generally inferior, but this is overcome by the labor of the people, who 
often commence with an almost hopeless sand whose loose and undulating sm*- 
face seems to defy all vegetation. The first crops are generally oats, rye, or 
broom ; the former are used for forage, and the tops of the broom are similarly 
applied, though the plants remain for three years, when they are ploughed in to 
em-ich the soil. When the farmer is able to keep a cow, by growing turnips or 
clover, the manure of every kind is saved with care, and the conversion of the 
arid sand into productive soil is quickly effected. 

The great feature of Flemish husbandry is deep cultivation. This is per- 
formed either by the spade or jdough, and often by both conjointly. The land is 
gradually trenched to the depth of twenty inches or more. It is laid out in 
stitches about six feet wide, with the plough ; between these a ditch is dug with 
the spade, about a foot wide, and the soil thrown upon the stitch. The next 
year a foot in width is taken from one of the stitches and thrown into the ad- 
joining trench, so that in the course of six seasons the whole soil will have been 
trenched over. 

All jilants do not equally require a depth of soil, but many that appear super- 
ficial in their wants will frequently extend their roots much further than is 
generally supposed. The A'oot of the flax plant, for instance, is known, under 
favorable circumstances, to go as deep below the surface of the soil as the top 
ascends above it. The object of the Belgian farmer is to obtain a deep and 
friable soil, equally enriched throughout, which is only accomplished with great 
care and attention. The land has the appearance of the most perfect garden 
cultivation. 

The mode of subsoiling in Belgium is worthy of notice. After the plough, 
laborers follow with the spade, dig out the bottom of the furrow, throwing the 
soil upon the ploughed land to expose it to the action of the atmosphere; the next 
furrow being thrown into this opening, the soil is inverted completely, and this 
is trenching rather than subsoiling, and is not applicable where the subsoil is 
so tenacious as to retain water. Great attention is also paid to drainage. 

In the Oourtrai, Block, and Tournoi districts, where the best flax is grown, 
the land is prepared with the utmost care, and the health of the plants is secured 
by the most unremitting attention. In these districts flax is rarely sown upon 
the same laud ofteuer than every eighth year, and it generally follows wheat or 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 23 

oats. The portion of land set off for flax the ensuing season is covered with 
farm-yard manure immediately after harvest. Twenty-five or thirty cart-load3 
per acre are frequently applied. This is spread and ploughed in foiir or five 
inches deep, and remains for three or four months, when it is harrowed and 
ploughed in again a little deeper; and it is also trenched with spades at the same 
time. In this state it remains during the winter, and in the spring it is har- 
rowed, and the roots are removed. Liquid manure is then applied to the extent 
of 2,500 gallons per acre. 

It is then harrowed, picked, and rolled, and afterwards harrowed with a light, 
wooden harrow to loosen the surfxce, when the seed is sown at once. The 
average quantity is 1C6 pounds to the acre, the harrow follows, and, after pick- 
ing and rolling, the work is done. 

In Courtrai the flax is dried in the field, and then stacked without ripplins:, 
and left for steeping until next spring. To insure the preservation of the seed, 
the straw is put into stooks without tying it into sheaves. These are placed on 
cradles to preserve them from the clamp. The seed ends are put in alternate 
layers, and the , stooks are from four to six sheaves in height, and from three to 
four wide, and the Avhole thatched with straw. When perfectly dry, these are 
brought together and put into stacks like ordinary grain, and is considered to 
be improved by three years' keeping, as it will then scutch more easily and 
profitably. 

Belgian flax, treated upon this method, commands almost fabulous prices, 
amounting very commonly to a yield of from c£40 to 6660 per acre; and for the 
finest quality from c£80 to 6£100 has been obtained. The export of this fibre 
to France and England is one of the chief sources of profit to Belgium, and 
this has amounted to nearly one million of pounds sterling per annum. la 
Leeds and Belfast the finest numbers of yarn, those of 160 leas, or 15 hanks 
to the pound, are almost exclusively spun from the Belgian flax. This is con- 
firmed by the reports of juries at the international exhibitions, vrhich will be 
presented upon another page. ^ 

Some of these fine qualities are worth 6670 per ton, some as high as c£'150 
per ton, and the finest e£200 per ton. But these prices are excelled by the fibre 
from which the Brussels and Mechlin lace is made, which has been known to 
sell at 064 per pound weight, nearly c£9,000 per ton. Yet even this is small 
compared to the value of the manufactured article, since a lace handkerchief, 
weighing about two ounces, has been known to sell for c£100. 

Ihe climate of Belgium, we are told by Bravoine, is not altogether favorable 
to the growth of flax, because about the first of Ajiril they often have a drought, 
and if the land is at all cloddy the vegetation of the seed is irregular, and that 
which springs is exposed to the ravages of insects. 

Weeding is considered an essential part of the treatment, and is done by 
hand, when the flax plants are about two inches high. In Belgium the weeding 
is done by women and children, who creep about over the field upon their 
hands and knees, and always work tOAvards the wind, so that the young flax 
plants may be raised again by the current of air coming in an opposite direction 
to that in which they have been pressed down. 

In this country we shall not soon resort to hand-weeding, on account of the 
expense involved, but we must be careful to avoid as much as possible the ne- 
cessity by selecting clean ground, and, with our perfected machinery, we are 
already able to avoid sowing the seeds of many weeds that are frequently 
mingled with foreign flax, because we can separate them with our superior win- 
nowing apparatus. When, however, weeds make their appearance, they are 
either neglected, or, in some cases, they may be cut off with the scythe just 
above the heads of the flax-plants, or, better still, the coarser weeds may be cut 
at the ground with a sharp knife and carried out of the field. 



24 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

The following directions are taken from Morton's Encyclopcedia : 

•' In order intilligibly to detail the right method of flax culture, I shall suppose ni_v,«elf 
about to cultivate a farm of one hundred acres of such soil as I have named — hardly suited 
to wheat culture. Then, as draining; is indispensable for flax culture, I should drain the land 
and commence my rotation thus, giving flax the lead: 1851, flax; 1852, clover; 18515, grass; 
1854, oats; 1855, turnips; ]85(3, barley; ]857. clover; 1858, grass; 1859, oats; ]SG(), turnips. 
Then supposing the licld to have been in barley in ]85(l, it should have been ploughed in 
Oi'tober of tliat year as deejily as possiltle in ridges about six feet broad. After being ploughed 
the furrows Should bo deepened with the spade twenty inches deep and eighteen inches wide, 
and all the stuff thrown upon those ridges to remain until spring under the frost and snow of 
■winter. About the end of March I plough the flcld again deep and level ; then harrow it, 
and mark it lightly in ridges, so as to direct me in top-dressing it with the li([uid manure; 
and in a day or two after 1 apply the manure, I sow broadcast about two and three-fourths 
bushels of good new seed per acre, taking care not to have mixed seed, (the seed of 184'J and 
1850,) for the reason that they do not vegetate together. The seed being sown, I then apply 
a'light short-tooth harrow to cover it, and on giving it a finisliing stroke I sow the clover and 
grass seed; and after one stroke of the harrow I use the roller in order to close the ground. 
Frequently clover and grass seeds are left until the first weeding of the flax is about to 
1)6 performed ; and being sown, the treading of the jiersoua weeding, and the pulling up of 
the weeds, affords sufficient covering for the seed. The flax being a short time on the land, 
being ])tilled sometimes in July and at others early in August, when vegetation is still active, 
the ]mlling up of the flax stalks moulds the young plants of clover and grass, and they gen- 
erally make rapid progress afterwards. I seldom, if ever, knew failures of clover to •ccur 
Avhen sown with flax. 

" It is most important that a sufficient quantity of seed be sown, as the fibre must be re- 
garded the chief consideration, and its quality is essentially improved by thick sowing. This 
arises from the closeness of the plants forcing themselves upwards Avifli a single stem to gain 
access to the air, and thus prevent their branching, which shortens and renders the fibre 
irregular. I could not have the quantity of seed by sowing two and three-fourths or three 
bushels to the acre that I should have if I only sowed two bushels ; but, in the cultivation of 
tliis plant I wfluld make evcrj'thing subservient to the formation of a long and delicate fibre, 
as to it alone I must look for remuneration. 

"The flax crop in Ireland is in general sown much too thin, and this is the chief cause of 
the inferiority of the produce. This appears strange and unaccountable when we consider 
that the seed is seldom saved. If flax be sowed thin, say two bushels or two and one-fourth 
to the acre, you are certain to see it branch off when about one foot or so high, and thus pro- 
duce a great quantity of seed ; but Avhen Ave understand that this object is effected at the ex- 
pense of the fibre, Avhich is not only rendered coarse but A'cry deficient in quantity, we 
should guard against such losing practices. The cause of deficiency in quantity must be 
attributed to not only a lesser number of stalks per acre, but it will be found also to arise 
from the shortness of the fibre, as there never will be flax produced on the branches, and as 
a consequence we can only liavc fibre from the branched or forked part to the root end ; 
therefore the production of seed in quantity is incompatible Avith the large returns from the 
fibre; and as it Avill be the Avish of every Avell-doing farmer to practice the culture of tliat 
•which Avill be most remunerative, the fine, long, and delicate fibre of the flax plant being the 
most A-aluable, he should regard the production of the seed as a secondary consideration. I 
have often observed in a field Avherc the crop had been thick anfl abundant that the plants 
had rarely more than tAvo or three seed bolls on a short forked top: the stalks, like trees 
planted closely in a young forest, spring up quickly Avithout branches, Avhilst those scattered 
thinly are covered Avith branches. The Avceding 1 should direct being dt)ne as the Flemish 
farmers do; no better mode can be taken." — (See Flanders, Agriculture of.) — Morton's 
Cyclopedia. 

HARVESTIXG. ' * 

This is rccommenclecl by all European writers to be done by pulling — a slow, 
tedious, and expensive process Avhich will never be performed by our farmers iu 
the large way, and avc knoAv of many operators Avho arc sowing some hundreds 
of acres apiece who could not possibly procure the labor necessary to pull their 
flax. ]\Iachinery again comes to our aid, and with proper care in the laying 
down of the land our impro\-cd harvesters may be adjusted so as to cut the crop 
very close to the surface of the ground. There is a prejudice, that is not Avith- 
out foundation, that one inch of the straw at the base is Avorth tAvo at the top of 
the plant, but the roots themselves are 6f little value for Jint. With proper 
care the straAV may be delivered from the machine sufficiently straight for all 
practical purposes, and the amoimt wasted by being tangled is much more than 
compensated for by the cheapness of the process compared to hand labor. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 25 

The proper period for harvesting the straw is a point of great importance. 
When gathered for the lint alone the seed should not have become fully ripe, 
but if gathered too soon there will be great waste in the scutching and hackling, 
though the fibre may be very fine ; whereas, when too ripe, the fibre, though of 
greater weight, is also coarser and more harsh. When the seeds begin to turn 
brown, and the stalk is turning yellow for about two-thirds of its length, the 
crop is considered sufficiently ripe for harvesting. It is desirable to keep the 
buts of the gavils as snug and even as possible ; in all the operations, therefore, 
attention should be paid to this point if the crop be designed for the preparation 
of long fibre, which is much the most valuable. The flax should be set up as , 
soon as possible that it may dry thoroughly, and at the same time shade itself 
to a degree from the scorching sun, which injures the fibre. The bundles should 
be made quite small. Dickson considers exposure to the sun very injurious to 
the fibre. 

Rippling consists in separating the seed bolls from the straw ; it is performed 
either at once in the field, or it may be done in the barn during the winter. In 
Ireland a great deal of the flax is immersed in the steeping pool without having 
the seed separated. This is a most wasteful plan, and should never be allowed. 
The loss to the Irish farmer is estimated by Mr. Ward at from ^63 to <^4 per 
acre. Rippling is performed by drawing the heads through a coarse heckle, 
made of iron or steel teeth, or pointed rods, that are set in a solid block of wood. 
The workmen seize small handfuls or streiks firmly near the but end, and draw 
them across this comb. The apparatus, if in the field, should be placed upon a 
large winnowing sheet, or the space around may Ife smooth and tramped hard 
to receive the seed ; or the rippling may be done on a tight barn floor more com- 
fortably, and with greater economy of time during the winter, but in case of 
stacking or storing in the barn we must guard against the injury from rats and 
mice. 

One of the best methods for separating the seeds from the straw, when we 
desire to keep this straight, is to pass the heads through plain rollers set pretty 
close ; the bundles may be spread out and allowed to pass between them, or 
they may be held, as in rippling, but kept in the direction of the axis of the 
rollers, the heads only passing into the bite, when the bolls are crushed and the 
seeds separated. 

The crop should not be allowed to remain in the field any longer than is 
necessary to have it thoroughly dried, when it should at once be stored away in 
the barn, or carefully put up in stacks, and these should be made sharp and 
covered with straw, or even thatched, so as to exclude the rain entirely. 

With regard to the choice of seed it should be of a bright, brownish color; it 
should feel cold and oily to the hand, and should be heavy. The European 
authorities tell us that the seed from Holland ripens sooner and yields a greater 
quantity of fibre than most others ; they say that American seed produces good 
flax ; that from Riga is coarser in fibre, but more productive in seed than any 
othei", and is adapted to a great variety of localities. It is supposed by some 
that this Russian seed, coming from a poor soil, feels the improved condition of 
better laud, and produces a luxuriant crop, which will incline to be rank. They 
think that if it be resown upon the same land after the interval of a year it will 
produce the best quality of fibre, but that it becomes degenerated afterwards. 

It is also considered very important that the seed to be sown should all be 
of the same age, that it may vegetate evenly, and thus all the plants of the crop 
will start together. Some farmers think that old seed will produce the best lint. 

FAKMING OUT THE SEED. 

It is a very common practice in some parts of this country for those who have 
oil mills to furnish flaxseed to the farmers, with an agreement that they shall 



26 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

have the refusal of the seed produced. This custom has a tendency to encourage 
the culture of flax for the seed alone. In this case it may be the interest of both 
parties to use as little seed as possible, so as to produce as large a proportionate 
yield of seed as can be obtained. 

From a series of data based upon the amounts of seed issued in this way by 
the dealer, and the returns made to him by the farmer, it appears that in the 
fertile valley of the Miami, in Ohio, the yield was only seven bushels and three- 
tenths per acre last year, 1864, though in one case, where a single bushel of seed 
had been sown upon two acres, the yield had been thirty-two bushels, or sixteen 
bushels per acre. 

On the contrary, we are assured that, by proper management and under favor- 
able circumstances, even larger crops than this last mentioned have been har- 
vested, besides a heavy yield of good long straw, so that it is not considered 
impossible to combine the profitable cultivation of flax for both its valuable 
products, and thus it stands pre-eminent among all the competitors for favor both 
as an oil-producing and as a fibre-yielding plant. There is now a new element 
in the field encouraging the production of this crop ; those who have machinery 
to prepare the fibre have also adopted the plan* of loaning seed to the farmers 
as well as their predecessors of the oil mills, and it is to their interest to have 
the farmers sow more seed, and to produce taller straw with better lint. 

.This is well set forth by a writer in the Prairie Farmer who is thus interested. 
Mr. Clemens says that "the pursuit of the crop for the seed only will never 
secure the firm establishment of flax culture. The additional inducement of a 
production of the valuable ftbre is necessary to make flax culture a leading farm 
interest. Crops of flaxseed may be gfown with poor cultivation and thin sow- 
ing, when the straw will be worthless from its coarseness and the weakness of 
the lint, and from the admixture of'grass and weeds. To obtain flax of the 
highest value for the seed only, it i)?'advisable that the cultivation be conducted 
With special reference to the production of the largest yield of good fibre in the 
straw. This conclusion is justified by the fact that the average product of flax- 
seed per acre in those districts, in the eastern States where flax is grown more 
especially for the lint, is greater than at the west, where the seed only has beeii 
sou"-ht for, while the quality of the eastern seed, gi-own with the crop of lint, is 
also superior. The carelessness of management attendant upon growing this 
crop for the seed, in connexion with thin sowing, tends to deteriorate the quality 
of the flaxseed for oil-making, as well as for the production of lint." 

Mr. Dodge, in his article in the agricultural report of the department for 1S63, 
p. 103, gives an instance of success in the combined production: "In Ilenry 
county, Illinois, upon two acres of prairie land, well ploughed, and sown with 
one bushel of seed, thirty-five bushels of clean seed and two tons of straw were 
produced; the straw yielded eight dollars per ton. In Boone county, Illinois, 
three and a half acres yielded thirty-five bushels of seed and five tons of straw. 
■ The net profit was $28 35 per acre. 

SUMMARY OF CULTURE. 

Adopt a judicious rotation of crops, and avoid the too frequent recurrence of 
flax, placing it after a cleansing crop, if possible. 

Select suitable soil, a good loam of sufficient depth, but not too rich. 

Plough deeply in the I'all, and leave the soil exposed to the frosts of winter- 
Plou'^h again shallow, as early as possible in the spring; harrow perfectly level 
and smooth, removing all roots and obstructions. 

Sow, as soon as the ground is in suitable condition, from one half bushel to 
two bushels and a half of the best and cleanest seed that can be obtained, cover 
very lightly with a short-toothed harrow, or with a brush drag, draw some very 
light water furrows, and then roll the laud smoothly. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 27 

Harvest as soou as the seeds begin to ripen and the stalks are turning yellow; 
dry as rapidly as possible, set in open shocks to shade itself, ripple the seed, and 
secure the crop from the weather as soon as dry, and sell the straw to the nearest 
manufacturer. 

HEMP 

This plant, called by the botanists Cannabis sativa, has obtained as wide a 
range as flax, being grown in almost every country from the tropics to the 
extremes of the temperate zones. Hence, with its excellent fibre, it has 
long been extensively cultivated and highly valued among civilized nations. 
Like flax, the hemp plant is composed of a central, woody stem, upon which 
are disposed very strong fibres, made up of bast cells, arranged parallel to the 
axis of the stalk, and united together in long filaments. These are covered ex- 
ternally by a coating or epidermis that envelops the whole stalk. Like flax, 
hemp needs to be treated in such a manner as to separate these groups of bast 
cells from the external bark and from the internal woody portions. All of 
these parts being intimately connected together by an agglutinating substance, 
as is the case with the flax plant, similar means and processes are required for 
their separation. 

Soils. — Hemp is a coarse plant, growing rapidly to the height of several 
feet, and requires a good, strong soil for its production. Any good, rich, 
loamy land is adapted to this crop, which is largely cultivated in the rich blue- 
grass region of central Kentucky, in the limestone prairies of western Missouri, 
and in the fertile plains of Illinois, but it may be produced in the greatest 
abundance in most of the States of the great northwest. 

In Europe and Asia hemp is found to grow remarkably well upon suitable 
lands, both in high and in low latitudes, for, being an annual plant, requiring 
but a short period for its maturity, it finds an appropriate season even in the 
brief summers of northern Europe, and is very largely cultivated in Russia, 
which country is indeed as noted for its hemp as Ireland has long been for its 
linens. 

A deep. friable loam, especially a rich alluvial soil, with natural or artificial 
drainage, is best adapted to the production of hemp. 

Preparation of the soil. — What has been already stated as a suitable prepa- 
ration of the soil for flax is equally applicable for this crop, and may be briefly 
repeated. The ground should be thoroughl;^ and deeply stirred; if ploughed in 
the fall or Avinter so as to receive the meliorating influence of the frost, heavy 
soils especially will be much improved for the reception of the seeds. In the 
early spring the land should be again stirred, and for both of these crops it is 
advised that the ploughing at this season should be quite shallow, so as to retain 
at the surface the mellow soil that has been acted upon by the frost. In this 
condition it furnishes a fine seed-bed for the crop, which hastens its germina- 
tion, and it is also asserted by some practical farmers that these plants do best 
when the deeper layers of soil have not been recently loosened, but have lain 
still and become partially compacted since the deep ploughing of the previous 
autfumn ; still, the roots descend deeply, and they require that land should 
have been thoroughly broken up at the fall ploughing. 

Seeding. — After the spring ploughing, which may be done with any of the 
cultivators in use upon our farms, the ground may be allowed to lie a few days 
to receive the genial influences of sunshine. If the laud be foul with weed- 
seeds, as is often the case with fields that are adapted to the growth of flax 
and hemp, this spring cultivation will have destroyed the first crop of weeds, 
many of which start into life very early in the season ; then by waiting a few 
days another crop will soon germinate, and these may be destroyed by the use 
of the drag-harrowj which also pulverizes the soil and thoroughly prepares the 



28 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Beed-bccl for the legitimate crop, which shouhl be sown as early as possible affer 
these arrangements and pr('])arations have been completed and the soil is 
sufficiently dry and warm. The hemp will then have an opportunity to start 
evenly with the weeds, and by its vigor it will maintain a proper ascendency 
over them to insure success. 

From two to three bushels of fresh seed should be sown, as evenly as possi- 
ble, upon the recently harrowed surface, and immediately covered Avith the 
brush, or with the light short-toothed seed-harrow, followed by the roller, to 
compress the soil and thus accelerate germination, but neither the harrow nor the 
roller should be used when the soil is at all wet or sticky, as they will prove 
very injurious to the crop if used under such circumstances. 

With careful preparation of the land as above directed, and judicious selection 
of good fresh seed, properly committed to such a fine seed-bed as has been ny- 
commended, the hemp crop will now take care of itself, and occupy the field to 
the exclusion of all intruding weeds. Indeed, hemp has been proposed by some 
agriculturist to be introduced into a rotation as a cleansing crop, to precede flax, 
for the sake of its destructive effects upon the weeds natural to the soil. While 
this ctfect of hemp is acknowledged, the farmer need not be reminded that the 
great principle of alternation, which should regulate all crop rotations, is here 
lost sight of, and though, in some of our very fertile alluvial soils, the results 
might be satisfactory, it would not be wise to pursue such a course of cropping 
as would bring these fibre crops in continuous succession. 

Seed-plants. — In growing hemp for fibre it is sown so thickly as to run up to 
its full height without any branches. This gives us long, straight, undivided 
rods, that are evenly clothed with the valuable fibre. When allowed room to 
develop itself, however, the hemp plant branches at almost every leaf from 
near the ground to its summit, and these branches produce their inflorescence 
at the axils of their leaves. Hemp is dioecious, bearing its male and female 
flowers on dilFerent plants, so that a portion of them only are productive of 
seed. To produce the best result, a portion of land is planted in hills or drills, 
for the especial object of seed-growiug ; the plants are cultivated and thinned 
out to allow of their fullest development. Some farmers only sow a corner of 
the field thinly, or trust to failures in parts of the crop, where the plants stand- 
ing thin on the ground will produce seed. 

Harvesting. — Hemp was formerly pulled by hand, and this was done at two 
operations ; the first pulling was performed when the male plants had shed their 
pollen, and were turning yellow. The female plants were left to mature their 
seed, and were taken at the second pulling. 

The male stalks were ready for steeping as soon as dried ; but the female 
plants were first divested of their seeds ; if the seed crop was not wanted, all 
was pulled or cut together. The female plants require about three weeks to 
perfect the seed after blossoming, and they may be allowed to stand until the 
lower seeds begin to ripen, when they should be carefully pulled or cut, aud 
the bundles set up in shock to dry. These seeds shatter very easily, and if 
not carefully handled much vnll be wasted. They are nutritious food for birds, 
aud produce much oil, but are chiefly preserved for seeding. 

The original method of ])ulling hemp has given place to cutting, at or rtear 
the ground, with heavy knives made for the pui-pose. These are crooked ou 
the edge, and bent towards the shaft of the handle in such a way as to sever 
the stalks near the ground when thrust against tliem by the harvester with a 
rapid stroke. Hemp-cutting, though a great improvement upon pulling, is still 
hard work, aud the usual length of the stalks requires a wide space to be cut, 
upon which the crop may be spread to dry. Care should be taken to keep the 
but-ends even as the stalks are laid down and taken up. 

When the crop is of moderate height, and has been sown so thickly as to be 
of slender growth, farmers often prefer to use the common grain-cradle for 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOE COTTON. 29 

harvesting hemp. A careful htind, who carries his scythe low, and cuts a level 
swath, may do excellent work in this way, but many workmen will waste too 
much of the best portion of the stalk, by leaving a high and uneven stubble. 
Then again, cradling hemp is very hard work, and we turn hopefully to the 
reaper to solve the difficulty by substituting horse-power for human muscle. 
Harvesting machines are easily adapted to this crop by a modification of the 
platform, suiting it to the length of the stalks of an average crop of hemp. 

After the crop has lain upon the ■ surface long enough to dry, the leaves will 
chiefly fall off as it is taken up to be tied in bundles of moderate size, which 
should be set up in shocks to dry perfectly before being stacked. 

The proper period fou harvesting may be known by the condition of the 
male plants, which, very soon after blossoming, cast their leaves, and the stalks 
begin to turn yellow, while the female plants continue green, and the bunches 
of seeds at the axils of the leaves near the top increase in size and weight. 
The crop is then ready for the knife. 

Hemp is considered an exhausting crop ; and so it is, for it removes from the 
soil a considerable portion of inorganic matter, but these substances, as shown 
by analysis, are not abundant in the fibre, which is taken off of the farm, but 
are chiefly found in those portions of the plant which constitute the refuse, and 
which may be returned to the soil as manure. Unfortunately, in our country 
little attention is ever paid to this restoration for the sake of maintaining the 
fertility of our soils. 

Fortunately for our unphilosophical and wasteful system of agriculture, the 
hemp crop makes its own return to the soil to a certain extent, in the falling 
leaves and in the stubble and deeply penetrating roots, that when cut are in 
full vigor and remain to decay in the soil, which is left in a very fine condition 
after this crop. Valuable as is this contribution of carbonaceous matter to the 
humus of the soil, acting both chemically and mechanically for its melioration, 
it still does not compensate for the abstraction of the mineral constituents which 
the crop of hemp has taken from the land, and which a wise agriculturist will 
restore to maintain the fertility of his soil. 

In the fertile hemp-fields of the west, particularly in Missouri, there is no ap- 
prehension felt as to the exhausting nature of this crop; on the contrary, many 
farmers speak of it as an improver of the land, like clover, and they claim that, 
while its deep roots descend into the lower strata of soil in search of nourish- 
ment, they bring valuable elements to the surface ; besides which, they add a 
large amount of carbonaceous matter in the leaves of stubble, which has been 
gatuered by the plant from the atmosphere. Certain it is that many fields have 
been planted in hemp for twenty-five successive years without apparent dimi- 
nution of the crop, which continues to produce an average of 800 pounds of 
clean lint. In the hemp regions it is considered essentially a negro crop, and 
is esteemed on account of its affording steady occupation to the large farm force 
during the winter months, when they would otherwise be idle. 

The annual production of hemp fibre in the United States, as reported in the 
last census, amounts to eighty-seven thousand one hundred and ninety tons, of 
which eighty-three thousand two hundred and forty-seven tons were dew-rotted, 
and only three thousand nine hundred and forty-three tons were water-rotted. 
There is a decided preference among the manufactm-ers for the water-rotted 
material, and the navy regulations indicate that experience considers this the 
preferable mode of preparation. But few of our farmers are willing to take the 
trouble to adopt this process ; indeed few have the necessary skill and appliances ; 
but it would be performed to much better advantage by those who make it their 
especial business, and who have prepared suitable vats for the purpose. Some 
of our correspondents in Illinois appear to have made extensive vats, with the 
expectation of rotting largely. This is a suitable subdivision of labor. 



30 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

From the kindness of Jlr. 11. F. Driller, assistant secretary of the Board of 
Trade at the Merchants' Exchange, St. Louis, we have learned the product of 
hemp in that State for three years to be as follows : 

In 1862, arrived at this port 88, 720 bales. 

" arrived at other porta, about 22,100 " 

Total 110, 820 bales. 

In 1863, arrived at this port 68, 131 bales. 

" arrived at other ports 17, 000 " 

Total -. 85,131 " 

In 1864, estimated at this port. - : 74, 150 bales. 

" estimated at other ports 20, 100 " 

Total 94, 250 " 

Total in three years 290, 201 bales. 

Average per year 96. 7331 bales. 



Kentucky and Missouri are the two leading States in which this crop has 
always been of considerable importance. 

Farmers generally complain of hemp that it is a hard crop to deal with, on 
account of the manual labor which it requires, but it is also urged that it is un- 
certain in its results because of the fluctuatiuns of the market value. Its chief 
value is for cordage, bagging, and sail-cloth, but the fibre is very similar to that 
of flax; the ultimate cells are almost identical under the microscope, and it is 
ap])licable to the preparation of linen cloths. The manufacture of bagging and 
bale-rope in Kentucky having been mostly suspended, since the withdrawal or 
suspension of the demands of the cotton-fields, the extent of the crop has also 
been diminished, and the fibre has been largely worked into tow, and shipped 
in the bale to eastern and European factories. 

George M. Campbell, of Lewistown, Illinois, writes that he has grown hemp 
for more than twenty years — first in Kentucky, and afterAvards in the prairie 
State — and that he finds the latter produces the best«and largest quantity of lint. 
He says that his crops average 1,000 pounds per acre, and that one season he 
obtained the unusual amount of 1,380 pounds. He thinks Illinois could siapply 
the world with this fibre, if the farmers would turn their attention to its 
culture. 

He prefers a rich deep loam, which is well prepared with the plough and 
harrow, when he sows five pecks of seed per acre, and harrows both ways. If 
dry or cloddy, he also rolls. With what he calls a drag-hook he cuts half an 
acre a day. When cured, he ties and shocks the stalks till dry, when it is 
stacked. 

He advises culling as soon as the blossoms fall, but the seed crop is planted 
in rows, and th^ seed plants are left for the seed to mature, when they are to be 
cut and shocked, and left three weeks to cure. 

MACHINERY. 

When they were considering the subject of treating the flax-straw by any 
of the chemical operations to which it has been subjected for the purpose of 
aidmg the separation and preparation of the fibres, whether these consisted of 
dew-Totting, water-rotting, or other more scientific or more elaborate processes. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOE COTTON. 31 

the commission endeavored to set fortli the great importance of a proper sub- 
division of labor, so that the farmer, Avith his manifold and pressing cares, might 
be relieved from the responsibility of conducting these delicate operations, for 
which, indeed, he is not always qualified. Here again we desire to urge upon 
those engaged in making arrangements for farther treatment of the material by 
the mechanical handling of the straw, and its conversion into the beautifid fibre, 
the great advantages that will result from a separation of these duties from 
those appropriate to the farm. Indeed it is so apparent to us that the rotting 
and breaking of flax are truly manufacturing processes, requiring skilled labor 
and experienced management, that the continuance of their assignment to the 
farm laborer can only be viewed as a remnant of those peculiarities of the early 
stages of civilization which are here and there found to cling to us in an ad- 
vanced condition of society. In former times the farmer, with the assistance 
of his family, was obliged to produce the raw material, to prepare it for manu- 
facturing, to spin, and to weave it upon his own premises ; but as we advance 
from such a primitive condition, the better subdivision of labor is progressively 
introduced, and we believe, as stated on a pi-evious page, that the farmer's duty 
should always end with the harvesting of the crop, the separation of the seed, 
and the delivery of the straw to the manufacturer. In portions of Belgium, to 
which country we may well look for the highest degree of development in the 
preparation of flax, since there the finest fabrics are produced, we find that the 
ownership of the crop is ti'ansferred from the agriculturist to the manufacturer 
so soon as its prospective value can be safely estimated, and this is immediately 
after it has blossomed in the field ; so that the farmer's duties and interests 
terminate at a still earlier period than that we have recommended to our country- 
men. 

Notwithstanding our urgent desire for a proper subdivision of the labors of 
the production from those of the preparation of flax, and other textile plants, 
Vv'e know that in many parts of the country, where flax and hemp may be profit- 
ably groA^Ti by the farmer, the mechanic has not yet made his appearance with 
the needed machinery for operating upon the product. Indeed, the raw material 
is not to be found in sufficient quantities to justify the erection of large estab- 
lishments for its preparation in many regions where it is and should be grown. 
Therefore we congratidate those isolated farmers who may be induced to culti- 
vate this class of crops upon the fact that our ingenious mechanics have already 
provided for their wants by inventing and erecting farm machines, of moderate 
capacity, and at reasonable expense, which will enable individuals so situated 
to utilize their products, and put them into a condition that will bear trans- 
portation to market, or that will readily prepare them for home consumption. 

In early times the most rude and simple apparatus was used in the prepara- 
tion of these fibres, and we find remnants of these barbaric customs still re- 
maining. I " In some parts of Europe the flax is broken by women, who hold the 
straw across the top of a post and crush it by beating with clubs ; and it is 
claimed that in this way they prepare the nicest and softest flax. 

Laying the straw upon a hard floor and beetling it with a maul or beetle, the 
face of which is grooved, is still recommended as the initiatory process of 
breaking. In some parts of Ireland the straw is spread across the hard road, 
and crushed by the wheels of carts that are passed over it preparatory to its 
being taken to the scutch-mills. 

In Egypt, where we expect to find remnants of primitive modes of work, it 
is found that, after water-retting, the natives crush the straw with flat stones, 
and then strike it against a wooden post to free the shives. And yet the early 
Egyptians made cambrics that were finer than the modern fabrics. 

The breaking of these plants consists essentially in so comminuting the woody 
materials, and separating the inter^itial matter and the enveloping epidermis, 
that the filaments, or groups of true bast cells, may be set free from the matters 



32 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

witli which they were associated, in the straw. The original brakes consisted of 
wooden blades or jaws that closed into one another in such a way as to crush 
the boon or woody matter into shives, whik; the more resisting harl or fibre was 
liberated. The adhering portions of woody fibre, and the remaining interstitial 
matter, as well as the remnants of the outer covering or epidermis, were next 
separated by the process called scutching. Tliis consisted in beating the hand- 
fuls or streiks of fibre with a blunt knife while it was held over the sharpened 
edge of an upright board. ' Finally, after being cleansed as perfectly as possible 
by these means, the filaments or bundles of cells were still further subdivided, 
and the loose portions that had been separated as tow were removed by drawing 
the streiks through elastic pointed wires, which constitute what is called the 
hatchel. This is a combing process, and is applicable only to the preparation 
of what is known as long-line, or the normal condition of the finished tlax pro- 
duct. All of these several processes are performed by hand labor, but the 
inventive genius of the age has brought its mechanical appliances to the aid of 
the laborer in each of these processes, and we now find a multitude of contri- 
vances to substitute manual labor. Many of these are admirable, and some of 
them are adapted to the use of the small farmer, who is thus enabled to prepare 
his crop for market, where, formerly, the formidable amount of hard work that 
was required of him prevented its being converted into any useful condition, and 
it was wasted or burned upon his farm, and sometimes cast into the mire-holes 
of the public highway. A few of these machines will be mentioned in this 
report, some of which have been found to produce satisfactory results in actual 
practice under our observation. 

The multitude of inventions that we find in this department of labor-saving 
machinery may be classified not only as small and great machines, adapted 
severally to the farmer, or to the manufacturer, but they may be divided into 
two great classes according as they are calculated for the preparation of the 
perfect long-line flax from straight straw that has been carefully handled, or for 
the production of the confused mass of fialments, commonly known as tow, which 
can be separated by these appliances from the tangled straw. This is the com- 
mon result of the flax crop in most parts of the country where it is grown 
especially for the seed, cut by the scythe, or by machinery, tramped out by 
horses, or otherwise threshed, and left in a confused mass, from which it could 
never be extricated in the form of long-line, but in which, nevertheless, lies a 
valuable product that may be separated in shorter filaments, and used in the 
production of important manufactures. These last are the tow machines which 
have come into use extensively within a few years in the flax-producing regions, 
fitting the crop for transportation. The necessity for some suitable machmery 
to aid and relieve human labor in breaking and preparing the fibres of flax and 
hemp was very early felt, and efi"orts were made to supply the deficiency. ' Of 
this there is manifold testimony in the collection of models at the museum of the 
Patent Oflice, where every conceivable application of power is represented 

Some inventors contented themselves with applying machinery to the old 
fashioned brake; others used beaters and stampers of various kinds; but most of 
the inventors,«and those are among the most successful, have adopted the appli- 
cation of rollers, which arc generally fluted ; these flutes are coarse and fine, and 
of varying form, so as to crush the boon as the straw is passed through them. 
In all of them it is somewhat dillicult to preserve the paralleHsm of the stalks of 
straw during the process so as to keep the fibres straight, and thus avoid tang- 
ling and waste in the subsequent processes of its preparation. These machines 
break up the boon, but generally leave the broken pieces, called the shives, 
entangled among the fibres, from which they miLst next be separated. 

One of the earliest plans adopted for the application of power to this purpose 
was based upon the principle of the old bark mill, rolling and dragging a wheel 
round a pivot upon a table or floor that received the flax which was thus crushed, 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 33 

but left full of shives, which 'tvere difficult to separate. A modification of this 
waa introduced in the hemp brake of Kentucky, which consisted of a platform 
of strong triangular pieces of hard wood laid like the radii of a circle, and having 
spaces open between them. Upon this circular table a large conical fluted log 
of "WOod was made to traverse by a horse walking round the outside periphery. 
By this arrangement the shives were broken, and the turning of the hemp 
loosened them so that they fell through to the ground below. 

Of all the various machines that have been attempted to be introduced for 
breaking flax and hemp, those which apply the crushing power of fluted rollers 
appear to have been the most successful, and yet among these there is a great 
diversity. Some have very coarse flutes, and some have them exceedingly fine ; 
some revolve slowly, and some with great rapidity. In some machines the straw 
is passed repeatedly through a single pair of rollers, while others, being made 
of a number of pairs, effect the breaking while the material is passing once 
through them. In some of these multiple roller brakes the gearing is so arranged 
as to make them all traverse with the same speed, and in some it is accelerated 
in the forward rollers which thus tear up and shorten the fibre ; these will not 
make the long-line. 

Many, indeed most of these machines, requii'e a considerable power to drive 
them, and they are generally found in flax mills, where also the scutching is 
done by machinery, in a simple arrangement, by which four or five swingling 
knives are placed in the rim of a pulley about thirty.inches in diameter. Several 
of these sets of knives are attached to one shaft, which is made to revolve rap- 
idly, bringing the blades close to the scutching boards where the workmen hold 
the flax that is to be operated on. 

Mr. C. Beach, of Peun Yau, New York, has invented a machine for grinding 
up the straw, and thus separating the fibres. The straw is first cut, then passed 
under a wheel, within a cage, that rubs off" the fibre, and a •strong draught of air 
blows out a large portion of the shives and dirt. It is claimed for this machine 
that it is equally adapted to unretted as to retted flax, and that it will clean 
from one to two tons of flax straw in ten hours. It requires fifteen horse-power, 
and costs $1,000. As operated at Toledo, Ohio, there appears to be a great 
waste of fibre. 

Crowell's flax brake and scutching machine is a combination of fluted rollers 
that is said to be adapted for retted or unretted flax straw, leaving the fibres 
clean and fine, either- broken into short lengths for carding, or in full length for 
long-line, as may be desired, taking a ton or more of straw in ten hours, from 
which six hundred pounds of clean fibre per ton is said to have been produced. 
This, we think, is too large an estimate. 

Randall's brake is a very successful application of fluted rollers, and is used 
with great satisfaction in many of the flax mills of the country. 

The most successful application of machinery to this subject that we have seen 
is the arrangement of fluted rollers, with an oscillating motion backward and 
forward, but advancing more than it retrogrades. This is the Mallory & Sanford 
machine, which they call " a portable flax and hemp dresser." Owing to the 
peculiar form and motion of the rollers the boon is crushed into shives of less 
than a quarter of an inch in length, and the harl is rubbed off from the straw 
with very little breaking of the fiTamcnts, while at the same time the shives are 
nearly all shaken out of the flax which is broken and scutehed at the same 
operation, and appears to need very little after scutching to finish it. This 
machine saves a great deal of fibre ; indeed, there is scarcely any found with 
the shives which are nearly cleiin, instead' of being, as they are often seen, a 
tangled mass of filaments and shives about the brakes. 

The latest modification of this apparatus, wherein the rollers are arranged in 
a vertical series fed from above, was tested in the presence of the commission 
with very satisfactory results, and they do not hesitate to declare that the work 

Ex. Doc. 35 3 



34 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

w«3 porformod rapidly and well. The apparatus was new, and therefore some 
allowance should be made for itg working capacity. The large machine is said 
to require a driving force equal to two horse-powers, and its capacity for work 
is estimated at one and one-eighth tons of straw per day. The makers of this 
machine in its later or upright form, with a succession of fluted rollers placed 
horizontally and set one above the other, when they use two breakers and one 
finisher combined, all feeding from above, claim that they can produce one thou- 
sand pounds of clean fibre per diem, with the assistance of four hands to the 
brakes, one hand to scutch, and two boys to assist. 

As originally constructed, we have heard it objected to these machines that 
their meclianism involvi-d a hard motion, and aj)prelicnsious wore felt that the 
machinery might give way. At an establishment in Pennsylvania, it was stated 
that four scutchers were needed to cleanse the fibre produced by three workmen, 
running three thousand pounds of straw each day through one machine. We 
cannot help thinking that this result, so different from our own observations, 
and from the testimony of many practical workmen who have adopted these 
machines, must have arisen from a want of experience in the laborers, and from 
their attempt to put through too much straw; and that, had they attempted to 
break less, they would have found the scutching a small matter, with revolving- 
knives. 

Messrs. Mallory & Sanford's machines have been recommended for breaking 
straight straw for the preparation of long-line, and as being equally well adapted 
for the breaking of the most tangled Hax, that it comes from the threshing 
floor. It is also claimed that they will separate the shives from green or 
unretted straw more perfectly than any other apparatus. Specimens on exhi- 
bition, and others broken in our presence, are entirely satisfactory evidence 
that such breaking can be done where desirable, though at the expense of a 
partial rupture of the filaments themselves, which, in the preparation of long- 
line, would be productive of a larger percentage of tow or tangled fibre than 
results from the handling of properly retted straw. 

In the preparation of short fibres this partial rupture of the filaments is a 
matter of no consequence, but, on the contrary, the breaking without previous 
retting, and its attendant staining of the fibre, is considered a great desideratum 
by those who d(>sire to manipulate the fibres in their processes of cleansing and 
disintegration. to which they subject this material in preparing it for spinning 
upon cotton machinery. It is found much easier to bleach and prepare the 
fibres of unretted, than those of retted straw, and the result is much more 
satisfactory. 

Betbre dismissing the consideration of the Mallory & Sanford machines, 
Avhich have given the commission such satisfactory results, and which present 
great encouragement to our farmers who have heretofore been deterred from 
Sax-growing by the labor attendant upon the preparation of the fibre, the com- 
missioners desire to mention an additional appliance to these brakes, by which 
the most tangled mass of straw has its stalks straightened out, and presented 
to the fluted rollers at a right angle, so as to be most perfectly acted upon in 
it;' passage through the machine. By this means the efficiency of the brakes, 
wlu'U acting upon tangled straw, is greatly increased. 

tcutching consists in separating the loose shives and dirt, but also results in 
the removal of a considerable portion of the fibre, as coarse tow ; the first ex- 
posure of the broken flax to the scutching knives removes the most of the 
shives and makes the coarse tow ; the second scutching gives a more valuable 
tow product; but the next or heckling process produces the fine tow. which 
consists of the tangled and broken filaments that are combed out of the streiks 
of flax as they are subjected to this instrument. Heckling is almost exclu- 
sively done by hand. Heckled tow contains very little ihives. 

Kowan's scutcher is a series of metallic beaters which revolve with great 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 35 

rapidity on the periphery of a drum, in close proximity to a breast or plate of 
iron, over which the workman holds the streik, so as to expose the ends alter- 
nately to the beating process. The work is done rapidly, and the cleaning is 
very well performed, but with the production of a large amount of waste tow. 
This machine is also used as a brake, but appears to waste a great deal of 
fibre, which falls with the shivea. The advantages of this machine are, small 
space occupied, and rapid work. 

One of the most promising scutching arrangements we have seen is that of 
a model of Mallory & Sanford, which consists of a vertical drum four feet in 
length, composed of clamps for holding the streiks of flax. These are made 
to revolve very rapidly after being charged with the fibre. The centrifugal 
force beats the flax against the edge of an upright scutching board that is fixed 
near the periphery of the revolving drum of clamps. When the ends of flax 
are cleaned the machine is stopped, the clamps are removed, loosened, and the 
flax is shifted so that the other ends of the streiks shall be exposed to the 
scutching process. It was found in experiments before the commission that 
this machine, with one scutching-post, would clean both ends in fifty seconds, 
and by applying four upright scutching-boards, and four clamps to each drum, 
it was estimated that the whole charge would be cleaned in half a minute. 

In confirmation of our favorable impressions of the Mallory & Sanford ma- 
chines, we subjoin some extracts from the report of the special committee on 
flax: machinery of the New York State Agricultural Society. This committee 
report : 

" That thej carefully examined the machine presented by Messrs. Mallory & Sanford, New 
York, and tested it under a great variety of circumstances. 

' ' Experiment 1st. Ten pounds three ounces of unretted straw, precisely as it came from the 
field, was passed through the breaking machine. The time occupied was two minutes fifty 
seconds, and tlie weight after breaking was six pounds ten ounces. The scutciiing process 
occupied six minutes, and the flax weighed after scutching just two pounds. 

"Experiment :^d. Ten pounds of halt retted flax (dew-retted) was passed through the break- 
ing machine; the time occupied in the process was two minutes fifty seconds, and the flax 
weighed five pounds. It was scutched in nine minutes and tweaty seconds, and weighed two 
pounds three ounces. 

"Experiment Ad. Twenty-one pounds one ounce of thoroughly retted (dew-retted) flax 
straw were passed through the machine in three minutes fifty seconds, and weighed nine 
pounds. The broken straw was scutched in eight minutes thirty seconds, and weighed four 
pounds fourteen ounces. With the ordinary taciUties of a factory, two men could do with 
ease what it required four men to do at the trials. 

"The average work of the machine during these three trials was 1158 ounce per second, 
which at ten hours work per day would be equivalent to 2,668 pounds of flax sti-aw. 

"The total weight of broken straw in these three experiments was twenty pounds tea 
ounces, which was scutched in twenty-three minutes fifty seconds, which is equal to 0.772 
ounce per second. Running steadily for ten hours, a scutching machine will dress 1,737 
pounds of broken flax-straw. 

"It, of course, would be difficult to work the machines regularly as fast, or to do as much 
work wi:h them as was done at these trials, but we have no doubt that the brake could run. 
through 2,000 pounds of str.aw daily, and that two scutching machines woa'd dress the flax 
as fast as it was broken by the first machine. Six-horse power would probably be amply 
sufiici^nt to run the brake and the two scutchers. 

"The unretted flax in these experiments yielded 18.9 per cent. The half-retted yielded 
21.9 per cent. The well-retted yielded 23.1 per cent, of dressed flax. 

"The day devoted to these experiments was a very rainy one, and the straw had lain upon 
the ground for several hours ; it had therefore imbibed much mo.sture, and was in a very 
bad condition for dressing. If the experiment had been tried in a clear, dry air, much better 
results would have been obtained.'" 

In conclusion they say : 

" 1st. That the machine of Mallory & Sanford does more work, with less power, than any 
other. 

"2d. That it detaches more of the worthless from the valuable portions of the straw than 
any other. 

" 3d. That it wastes less of the fibre. On a careful examination of the shivs after the 
experiments, we could not detect a single particle of the fibre. 



36 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

"4tli. It is cheap and durable and not dangerous to cither life or limb. The cost of the 
largest machine i.s $;5.')5 ; the secund size, 2;").'); the third. $1.")."). 

'• 5tli. It does not require akUled labor to operate it. Thiji remark applies to the brake, and 
not to the scutcher. 

"Gth. It requnes but a very small space; the largest size occupies but four feet square and 
weighs l,UiO poiuids." 

Mc Bride's machine is iu operation at Delaware, Ohio ; as a scutcher it is 
very efficient and ingenious. The flax is applied in the bite or twist of a double, 
endless rope, which receives the streik at one side, carries it through the 
scutcher, where it is well dressed throughout; during its passage, the rope 
shifts its hold of th(; flax by the torsion action, so that all is scutched and de- 
livered to the workman at the other side of the machine, who lays away the 
bundles of clean flax. This machine will dress from four hundred to six 
hundred pounds a day. 

Mr. Mc Bride has also constructed a machine for treating tangled straw, by 
which he says he can dress from three to four tons of rough straw per diem, 
and which, he thinks, will produce from one to one and a third ton of clean 
fibre, at a cost of half a cent per pound. This machine is to cost about five 
hundred dollars, and, he thinks, will produce 30 per cent, of clean fibre from 
retted straw. 

Several of the machines already noticed are adapted to the preparation of 
long-line or of tangled tow, according to the condition of the flax straw, 
whether it has been carefully handled and kept straight from the time of 
harvesting, or has been left in a tangled and confused mass by the harvesting 
machine, and afterward by the threshing operation and subsequent treatment. 
Since, in a large majority of cases in this country, where flax has been grown 
or the seed alone, and little or no care has been bestowed upon the straw, this 
material is in a tangled condition, it becomes a matter of the highest import- 
ance to provide apparatus that can take this product and reduce it to a marketa- 
ble condition; receiving it in the bulky form of straw from the neighboring 
fa-mers, machinery is needed to break and clean the fibrous product, wliichcau 
tlien b>' baled and compressed so as to adapt it for transportation to market. 

Many of thf. machines already mentioned will work equally well with tangled 
or with straight straw, and lay in their claims to public favor for this ])urpose; 
but there are others which are essentially tow-machines. One of the first of 
this class was introduced by Mr. Allen, of Boston, who claimed the production 
of " fibrilia," or shortened filaments of flax and hemp. 

The extended culture of flax in some portions of our country for seed alone 
has also yielded an immense quantity of the fibre-bearing straw, which it is de- 
sirable to utilize so as to add to the wealth of the nation. For this purpose ma- 
chinery has been supplied in addition to the flax brakes already in use, and 
which were especially adapted to the preparation of long-line. These machines 
Lave been constructed for the purpose of breaking and of cleaning the tow, 
without having any regard to the length of the fibre, and iu some instances pur- 
posely calculated for shortening it, by the arrangement of pickers and beaters, 
and also of alternating rollers, that revolve in common with increasing speed 
upon the advancing sheet of fibre as it passes through the machine. 

A great variety of apparatus is employed for this purpose, but one or two 
of the inventions need to be noticed. 

One of the most powerful of these tow-machines is that of S. A. Clemens, 
now at Chicago, Illinois, the capacity of which is such that it requires two active 
men to supply the raw material upon the feeding-apron, and the product of 
pretty well cleaned tow amounts to about a ton per diem. Mr. Clemens has 
long been engaged upon flax inventions. 

G. F. Davies & Co., of Dayton, Ohio, have put up a machine which possesses 
the merit of cleaning tow in a very thorough manner by purely mechanical 
means. The fibrils are broken and divided, and reduced to a commendable 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 37 

degree of fineness and sliortness, so that the inventor feels confident that this 
substance, which he calls "erolin," or flax-wool, may be spun on cotton 
machinery. That it will work well with wool has been demonstrated. This 
machine will be more particularly described in the section on manufactures. 

CHEMICAL. 

When we come to investigate the details that properly appertain to this sub- 
division of our subject we must again observe what is the natural condition 
of the agricultural product which is to be dealt with, its composition, and its 
condition as it comes from the field, and thus we shall be prepared to appre- 
ciate the difficulties that lie in the path of improvement, and to understand the 
object of the various processes to which the material is subjected. 

The round stalk of flax or hemp is composed of a woody heart or central 
portion, which is hollow. Around this column, closely packed together, and in 
immediate contact with the woody matter to which they are intimately attached, 
we find the delicate and strong fibres that give value to the plant. Outside of 
these is the exterior integument or skin, called the epidermis. These fibres arc 
composed of regular bast cells, united together into filaments or bundles of 
cells, which are connected with other filaments, and also cemented to the ad- 
jacent tissues by a nitrogenous substance that has been called gluten; it is an 
albuminous compound, which is extremely difficult to remove bj mechanical 
agencies. 

When these stalks have been exposed to the action of the weather for some 
length of time, the bast cells are found to be in a state of partial separation, and 
the long fibrous material, which is gathered by the birds for the construction of 
their nests, was no doubt very soon collected by man and applied to his pur- 
poses. 

This slow and uncertain separation of the fibres must have attracted atten- 
tion, and there is little doubt that artificial means for accelerating and regulating 
the process were very long ago applied ; and we now find very primitive races 
of men making use of similar products of many plants, which are treated in 
diff'erent ways to induce them to part with these interesting bundles of cells or 
fibres, to be applied to economic purposes. 

It is almost universally conceded that some process is necessary to prepare 
the dry straw before attempting the separation of the fibres; a partial decom- 
position is to be efi'ected to set them free from the aglutinating material that 
attaches them to the woody matter or boon constituting the stem. 

This is generally efi'ected by the process called retting, and is done by ex- 
posing the straw to moisture, with or without artificial heat. Water-retting or 
steeping is done by immersing the straw in tanks or pools of soft water, in 
which a degree of fermentation is soon set up, causing the decomposition of the 
nitrogenous matters, and rendering the woody portion short and brittle, so as to 
be easily broken and removed, while the more tenacious fibres have resisted the 
decomposition and retain their strength and value. Dew-retting more nearly 
resembles the natural process of disintegration which is often observed in many 
fibrous plants that have been exposed to the weather where they grew. 

The process of retting may be considered under three diff'erent heads, In 
the first, the separation of the fibre is efi'ected by fermentation simply. An in- 
cipient decomposition is made to separate the parts. This is steeping, or water- 
retting and dew-retting. In the second, the liberation of the fibre is due to the 
abstraction of the azotized extractive principles by the agency of chemical sol- 
vents, which are chiefly alkalies, lu the third, simple water is used, either 
heated or introduced as steam. 

In the first method fermentation is carried on at the expense of the matters 
contained in the plant, either originating within itself, or introduced from with- 



38 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMr FOR COTTON. 

ont. In citlici" case offensive and noxions proflnct? arc generated by this pro- 
cess of retting. In the second method the combining matters are removed by 
the aid of chemical ingredients; and by the third process the whole of these 
substances may be preserved in a state that is useful, and that may be applied 
as a valuable feeding material. 

The process of steeping, including also dew-retting, is the one generally 
adopted over the country, and the commonest and most ancient mode consists 
of dew-retting. The straw is spread out upon the grass, and exposed to the 
natural moisture of dews and rains, or it is carefully watered by artificial means, 
so as to have a supply of moisture sufficient to set up and maintain fermentative 
action within the tissues of the plant. This is a tedious process, requiring 
several weeks, and in cold weather a longer period ; and yet, with all its un- 
certainties, it is a favorite method, particularly when conducted in the winter 
season, and many manufacturers prefer snow-retted flax. The period required 
for natural retting will depend upon the heat and humidity of the atmosphere, 
and in a dry season this will be very much extended, and will require from 
three to six weeks. 

The usual method is that known as water-retting, when the flax-straw is im- 
mersed in tanks or pits constnicted for the purpose, Avhere the liquid may be at 
rest, or very slowly changed by the ingress of a small stream of water. It is 
advised that the water used for this purpose be soft, and that it be collected in 
a reservoir and allowed to stand for some days before being admitted to the 
straw to be acted upon by it. Slowly moving streams of water are sometimes 
selected for the rotting-pools, m which the flax is introduced and left until the 
desired decomposition is effected. In Belgium, where retting constitutes a 
distinct branch of the trade, wooden crates, twelve feet long, eight feet wide, 
and three feet deep, are made, which, when filled with the flax, are carried into 
the stream and weighted down, and left to be retted, and removed from the 
water so soon as sufficient decomposition has taken place. This is done chiefly 
in the river Lys, the water of which stream is believed to have superior qualities, 
so that flax is brought from a great distance to be retted in it, and the product 
is made into the finest linens, shirtings, cambrics, and damasks. Nothing pecu- 
liar has been discovered by analyses. A similar arrangement has been con- 
tem])lated by a flax company in the northwest, who are to pack their straw in 
large crates, to be transported into the water on wagons from which they can 
be unloaded, left there till retted, and then removed by the same wagons and 
transported to the drying grounds. 

In the tanks or pools, whether these be in the open air or under the cover of 
buildings, the flax is placed nearly upright, inclined, but loose; the water is let 
in, and the straw is weighted down to keep it under. This weight often needs 
to be increased during the progress of fermentation, which is indicated by the 
appearance of scum upon the surfiice of the liquid, and by the escape of bub- 
bles of gaseous matters extricated below, and by the rising of the bundles above 
the surface of the water. 

Constant care is required in this process, that it be not carried too far, and 
result in the destruction of the valuable fibre as well as that of the foreign 
matters associated Avith it. Close attention must be paid to the condition of the 
straw, and at this stage repeated trials should be made to ascertain if it be 
sufficiently retted, when it must be immediately removed from the vat, for a 
little too much retting will destroy the value of the fibre. Experience is neces- 
sary to enable the workman to decide when the proper period is reached, and 
this matter i;s usually intrusted to one who has made himself an expert, and 
who has the necessary judgment. If the fermentation have not been carried 
far enough, the fibre will be coarse and harsh; but, if overdone, though soft 
and fine, it will be tender, and there will be great loss in tow when the flax is 
heckled. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 39 

Steeping in pools is not so sIoav and tedious a process as dew-retting, but 
still considerable time is required, generally from ten to fourteen days, accoi-ding 
to the temperature; but in streams, which are still colder than the ponds in 
which the fermentative action affects the temperature, from two to three weeks 
will be required. In all cases much depends upon the quality of the water and 
upon the temperature. Impurities, such as lime and iron, are considered in- 
jurious, and thought to retard the fermentation as well as to injure the iibre. 

Schenck's process depends upon the use of hot water, by which the fermen- 
tative process is hastened, and yet it may be controlled. By this plan a saving 
of time is efifected*, as from seventy-two hours for the fine qualities, to ninety- 
six for the coarse, is all that is needed, instead of two or three weeks. This 
process will be explained in detail upon another page. 

Chemical methods. — Manj plans have been devised for dissolving out the ex- 
tractive matters of the straw by the use of chemical agents, both acids and 
alkalies ; even weak solutions of these substances are found to have this desired 
effect. Their action is accelerated by temperature. The Chevalier Claussen 
patented a process for this purpose, which will be considered in detail in the 
section of this report M'hich will be devoted to the consideration of the claims 
and merits of flax-cotton. 

All of these processes for the separation of the filaments from the wood and 
from one another will be understood when we recollect the nature of the inter- 
stitial substance that tuiitcs them. Being nitrogenous, it acts as a ferment when 
exposed to a gentle heat and moisture, either in the retting vat or in the open 
field. The elements of decay are present, only awaiting circum^stances favora- 
ble to the establishment of that process. In the case of chemical agencies their 
action depends upon the solvent power which alkalies exercise upon the inter- 
cellular matter combining the cells and cell-bundles into the fibres and filaments 
that we desire to separate. 

In the processes next to be mentioned, though a separation be efiected, it is 
important to recollect that certain elements of destruction are still left in the 
fibre thus treated, which are liable at any future period to undergo fermentation 
if they be subjected to circumstances favoring such action. 

Hot waler. — The use of simple solvents, such as water or steam, remain to 
be considered as agencies to remove the foreign matters fiom the fibre and to 
cause its ready separation from the stalks or boon. By the use of such means 
we find the process accelerated, and as we have no fermentative action, we not 
only avoid the noxious and disagreeable effluvia and exhalations, but we save 
the use of expensive and sometimes dangerous chemicals ; there is less prospect 
of injuring the fibre, and the products of the operation are found to be valuable. 
This is called Watt's method, and will be fidly described on another page. 

This method presents a great advantage in saving of time, as it only requires 
thirty-six hours from the commencement until the flax is dried and scutched 
ready for market. There is also claimed a great saving of fibre, for the product 
was found to be 18 lbs. of fibre per cwt. of crude straw, or 261 lbs. per cwt. of 
the steeped and dried straw, which by this process had already been divested 
of a large portion of its original matter, washed out with water. 

Hitherto the first four processes in dealing with the crop of flax have been 
the separation of the seed from the straw, the steeping of the straw, and the 
drying afterwards, and the separation of the fibre by breaking and scutching. 
These operations have been agricultural, whereas they ought to have been 
manufacturing processes. It is manifest that all of them may be performed 
much more systematically and ^ economically in the routine of a factory, with 
practiced hands, than could be done by the slovenly laborers of the farm. 

Mr. Ward urges the Irish farmer to confine himself to growing the flax and 
to harvesting it in proper condition ; when the crop should pass into other 
hands, who, with more eflicient aid, would convert it into a better quality of 



40 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OK HEMP FOR CCJTTON. 

fibre. If the farmer performed his part judiciously, which he is more likely to 
do by omitting subsoiuent processes, manufactories could be introduced which 
would be benclicial lo him. If the straw be not carefully harvested its fibre will 
be lessened in value to a large extent ; this loss no subsequent treatment, how- 
ever judicious, can possibly obviate. If, therefore, an improved method of prep- 
aration be introduced, it must, iu a great measure, depend upon the co-opera- 
tiou of the farmer, 

Fro7n report of Juries at the International Exhibition 1851. 

"Schenck's method has been introduced into Ireland and found economical of time and 
labor. The Royal Soeiety at Belfast recommend it liighly. Mr. McAdam, secretary of this 
society, gives the following account of it: 

" Simple wooden .sheds contain the vats and drying shelves. In one end of the buildings 
are four vats ; these are uuide of inch deal, fil'ty-six i^et long, six feet broad, and four feet 
deep. There are false bottoms perforated ^\■\^h holes ; underneath these are steam-pipes 
crossing the vats and having stop-cocks, to let on or cut off the steam as required. This is 
generated in a small boiler, which also works the two hydro-extractors, which drive off a 
portion of the water as the flax comes from the vat. The flax is packed in these vats on 
the butt end. half sloping, only one layer deep ; then the water is let on, while a frame on 
top confines the straw in its position. The steam is let in by turning the stop-cock, and the 
water is eighteen t>Y twenty hours in becoming heated to eighty-five or ninety degrees ; when 
fermentation commences no more steam is required, but the j)rocess continues forty hours, 
or sixtv hours from the connnenci!mcnt, when the flax will be perfectly retted. If the water 
be healed before it is i)ut into the flax, or if the temperature be raised above ninety degrees, 
the process is not hastened, but the fermentation is rather letarded. The gradual heating of 
the water is necessary if we wi.sh to preserve the quality and color and to have a uniform 
ratting. ' ^ 

"When thus retted the flax is taken out and the vat is emptied and cooled for the reception 
of a fresh charge of straw, water, and steam as before. As taken from the vat, the flax is 
placed in the hydro-extractor, where it is rotated rapidly to displace the water by the centri- 
futjal force. From thirty handfuls placed in this apparatus twenty pounds of water are ex- 
pelled in from throe to five minutes, so that a few hours suffice to treat the contents of one 
vat, amounting to two tons of the flax straw. The flax is dried of its remaining moisture in 
the summer by spreading it upon the gra.ss, but in winter it is spread thinly upon lattice 
shelves, protected by a shed that is heated by steam pipes ; the shed should hold the contents 
of one vat daily ; when dried the flax should be made up into small beets or handfuls suitable 
for feeding into the rollers of the breaking machine. 

"Such an establishment can ret about ten vats per week, equal to twenty tons of straAV, 
producing two and a half to three tons of fibre, thus making J2U to 150 tons of flax ready 
for market annually, the produce of 4t)t> or .500 statute acres. 

"The saving in time accomplished by this process is not attended by any depreciation of 
quality or loss of material in the manufactured article. This is thus corroborated by the 
Belfast Societ}'. The doubts raised as to Schenck's process were, 1st, that the yield of fibre 
would be less than the ordinary mode of steeping; 2il, that flax .^o prepared would be 
weakened ; and 'M\, that linen made from it would not bleach properly. Experience has 
proved that the last two are altogether baseless. As respects the first objection, we are 
of the opinion that, either by the common method or by Schenck's, the yield of fibre will be 
lessened if the fermentation be allowed to proceed too far. The uniformity of temperature 
insured by the latter would induce the belief that the yield of fibre should be increased. This 
is borne out by two cxiieriments. In the one conducicd at l>isbnrne l)y Mr. Davison in 1847, 
112 pounds ol'flax straw, after steeping and drying in the ordinary way, gave twenty pounds 
of scutched fibre; and 1 12 pounds steeped by Schenck's process and dried gave twenty-four 
pounds, an increased yield of twenty per cent. In another exiieriment 1 \2 jiounds of straw 
gave, by the old process, fourteen pounds five ounces, and as uuich, by Schenck's process, 
yielded seventeen pounds eleven and a t^uarter ounces, or twenty-three and a half per cent, 
in favor of the latter. As respects the quality of tlie fibre the result was eipially favorable to 
the Schenck process. In the first experiment, the flax steeped in the ordinary Avay spun to 
ninety-six lea yarn, that by Schenck's spun to one hundred and one lea. In the second, the 
ordinary gave sixty lea, Schenck's seventy lea." 

ll'atCs method. —The flax straw is delivered at the mill dry and with the seed. The seed is 
scptirated by metal rollers and afterwards cleaned. The straw is })laced in cast-iron close 
rhamber.s, laid ui)on a false bottom of iron, and when^the doors are closed tightly steam is 
thrown amimg tlu^ straw. The first efiVct is to drive off certain volatile ])arts that, with th.e 
water, are caught in the condenser jdaced above, and returned u])on the straw; as this fluid 
accumulates, with jxntions of the extractive matter from the straw, it is drawn off from time 
. to time. After being thus treated Inmi eight to twelve hours, during which the resinous 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 41 

matters are removed from the straw by the water, it is taken from the chamber aod passed 
throng^h rollers that separate most of the water and split it longitudinally and crush the boom. 
It is then dried and in a few hours it is ready iorscutahmg.— Condensed from Society's report. 

The chairman of the committee of the society for the promotion of the growth of flai in 
Ireland gives the following account of the result of his investigations : 

"A quantity of straw was taken weighing 13f cwt. After removing the seed, which, 
when cleaned, measured 3f imperial bushels, the remaining straw weighed 10 cwt., 1 qr., 
21 lbs. It was then placed in tlie vat and subjected to the steaming process for eleven 
hours; after steeping, wet-rolling, and drying, it weighed 7 cwt. 11 lbs., on being scutched 
the yield was 187 lbs. of flax tibre, and of scutching tow 12 lbs. 6| oz. tine, and 35 lbs. 
3 oz. coarse. The yield of tibre in the state of good flax was, therefore, at the rate of 13-J 
pounds from the hundredweight of straw, with the sc*d ; 18 pounds from the hundredweight 
of threshed straw; 16J pounds from the hundredweight of steei>ed and dried straw, equal, 
respectively, to 12, 16, and ] 44 per cent. The lime occupied in the actual labor in the proces.^es 
after removing the seeds from the flax was 13^ hours, beside the eleven hours consumed in 
steaming and the time spout in drying. The scutching by four stands occirpied six liours 
sixteen minutes. Thirty-six hours is supposed to be the time necessary to perform all the 
processes, reducing straw into clean fibre. When sent to the spinning mills to be heckled and 
valued it was declaimed to be quite satisfactory to the liecklers, and worth from £56 to £70 
per ton. 

" The committee conceive that the most prominent and novel feature of this plan consists 
in the substitution of maceration or softening for fermentation. In the steeping of flax, both 
by cold and hot water, the gum is separated by being decomposed, while on Watt's system 
the maceration simply loosened the cuticle and gum, which are further separated mechanically 
by the crushiug, and which, after the drying of the straw, readily part with the wood in 
scutching." 

The water from these vats is found to be nutritious instead of noxious, as is 
the case with common retting when it becomes putrid from decomposition. It 
is only an infusion of the gums, and is used with tlie chaff of the seed bolls 
for feeding swine, and thus may be returned to the soil in the manure they 
produce instead of becoming a nuisance. 

The following is a statement of the amounts of labor and time occupied in 
the process : 

Process. Persons. Hrs. Min. 

Seeding 4 men, 8 women 1 15 

Placing in vat 3 do 4 do 15 

Cleamng seed 1 do do 3 00 

Taking out of vat 2 do 3 do 30 

Wet-rolling and placing in dry room 1 do 16 do 2 20 

Robing for scutching do 11 do 1 8 

Strieking for scutching do 7 do 4 47 

Total 11 49 13 15 

Scutching 4 do do ...6 16 

Professor Hodge stated to the British association for the advancement of 
science that — 

"This new method which is in oper.ation at the cxten.sive works of Messrs. Leadbetter, 
Belfast, appears to offer striking advantages. It is peculiarly adapted for rendering the 
eeparation of the fibre a manufacturing operation. No disagreeable odors are evolved, and if 
experience confirms the' expectation of the patentees with respect to the quality of the fibre 
obtained, and if the cheapness of the plan be demonstrated the new process will contribute 
largely to the extension of flax culture in this country. The utilization of the residual liquor 
is another argument in favor of Watt's plan. " 

Experiments as to the comparative value of fibre prepared by steeping in the 
old way, and by Watt's method, give the following results : Watt's process in 
one set of experiments gave forty-five per cent, more of scutched fibre, and was 
considered worth ofilO more per ton. In another set of experiments the green 
straw yielded twenty per cent, more of scutched fibre ; the dry straw yielded 
seventy-five per cent, more of fibre. 

Breaking without retting. — The commissioners have found several machines 
that will break and clean the unrettcd flax straw, and they desire to say a few 
words upon this subject, as obviating the necessity of this troublesome and 



42 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

expensive process, would appear to be a great desideratum in the culture and 
production of fibrous plants, lu a valuable paper upon this subject by 0. S. 
Leavitt, in the Patent Office Report for 1861, the following statements occur: 

"In 181'i Lee took out a patent in Englainl for a niachino and process for breaking and 
workinj;^ tiax straw in tiie natural or unreticd eonditiun; and so important did Parliament 
consider the invention that the peculiar privilc<i;e was accorded to the inventor of having his 
specification tiled for seven years in the secret archives of the government. This plan con- 
templated making linens entirely by the dry process. The Irish linen board expended jCli.OUO 
in their endeavors to introduce it iiUo the tlax districts. In 1817 the same was patented by 
Hill and Bundy. Other similar attempts were made on the continent, and all failed for the 
following, among other reasons : 

"1st. The breaking machines were very imperfect ; greatly inferior to those which have 
been of late worked with Ix^ttcr success in this country. 

"2d. The flax, broken out and cleaned in the most perfect manner, in the unretted condition, 
is coarse, harsh, and totally unfit for line yarns, on account of the great cohesive force of the 
glutinous matter connecting the filaments so firmly that no heckling, brushing, or other 
mechanical means can sepaiate them sufficiently for fine numbers. What may, in this condi- 
tion, ai>pear to be but a single filament, will, njion close examination, prove to be a bundle of 
filaments, cemented together by the incrusting matter. 

',k\. It was found that in attempting to divide the harls sufficiently many were ruptured, 
making a far greater proportion of tow than by the retting process, while the tow was of a 
very inferior qiialit}- — merely wide harls, with more or less aahering shives. Many harls 
were torn off abruptly, making what the spinners call stumpy ends, and the whole very 
harsh, and only suitable for inferior rojje-yarn. 

4th. By neglecting, as many did, to boil their yarns or goods properly in an alkaline solu- 
tion, the azotized incrusting matter, when exposed to moisture, would cause the goods to 
mildew and decay more rajiidly than when made fr<im retted flax; but this was not the main 
cause of failure in working unretted flax, as many have alleged." 

With the improved brakes now in use we have seen unretted straw 
broken very nicely, though there is always an amount of tearing of the fila- 
ments that must damage the material for the preparation of long-line ; even if 
the fibre be exposed to the solvent action of alkaline solutions, the amount of 
tow is necessarily increased. For some of the processes to which these fibres 
are now exposed in their preparation for spinning as shortened fibres, however, 
we conceive that these objections are overruled, seeing that our brakes are more 
perfect; the design is to prepare and to use shortened fibres; and in the later 
operations of disintegrating the filaments, the material is exposed to suitable 
solvents of the incrusting or interstitial matters which are entirely removed. 

Mr. Ward gives an account of a mill at Trebolgan, Ireland, where seven 
hundred htuids are employed, and where the flax is broken in the dry way.* 
The flax is first taken from the stack to the mill, where it is seeded, by passing 
the straw thi-ough rollers and then beating it against timber,s. It is then dried 
in a room artificially heated, and passed through the breaking machine, which 
prepares it f)r scutching. When the shives have been separated by the 
scutcher, and the fibre is brought to the desired state, it is tied up in bundles. 
This is the largest mill in Ireland, using an engine of twenty-five horse-power. 
The tow is also cleaned by machinery and rendered marketable. The pro- 
prietor, Mr. E. B. Roche, has a great advantage in the combination of this 
factory with his farm, as all the refuse may thus be consumed. The corn- 
bam IS attached to the mill so as to have the use of the steam-power for 
threshing and winnowing. Near the engine are arrangements for cooking food 
for the cattle, which is done with the waste steam, by means of which from ten 
to twenty tons of mmgold wurtzel may be prepared at once. The condensed 
Btcam is saved to mix with the. fl.ix bolls, as a very rich food. The shives 
from the straw thus treated in the dry state without retting are not only useful 
as fuel, but are found to be nutritious, and are vtiluable as food in combination 
with the steamed roots, with which they aid digestion. An oil mill, in addition, 
is all that the establishment needs to make it complete, 

*Condoiised from Ward's treatise. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOE COTTON. 43 

The Belfast society say in regard to this method : 

" It is suSicieutly obvious that so simple a mode of obtainiu^ flax fibre as its mechanical 
separation from the stems of the plant must have been the earliest methods adopted when 
this substance was first used for textile purposes. It is probable that accident first made 
known the fact that by immersing the flax stems in water, when above a certain tempera- 
ture, the fibre could be divested of impurities by the decomposition of the foreign matters, 
which, with the woody portion of the stem, are united to it. In 1815 the Irish linen board 
adopted the dry preparation, then brought forward by Mr, Lee, and tlieir records show tliat 
its principle was almost identical with Donlan's. After expending £ti,(JOO, the board aban- 
doned it on account of insuperable defects. In 1^16 Mr. Pollard, of Manchester, pro- 
posed to make an article from flax by a dry method which could be spun on cotton machinery. 
This also fell to the ground. The committee state as their opmion ' that the fatal defect 
of the dry methods is the retention by the fibre of the gummy and resinous matter incorpo- 
rated with it. This, being subject to fermentation at moderate temperatures if moistened, 
and to decomposition by alkalies and acids, is not only useless, but absolutely pernicious, if 
thus retained, since, in the process of manufacture, it is exposed to these agencies.' And 
furthei' they state that the matter may be summed up thus; 'In the retted flax a nearly 
pure fibrous matter is produced, and the material is tlius iu the fittest state for spinning even 
yarn and making good linen. In the dry worked flax, along with the fibre is combined a 
foreign substance, which must be got rid of afterwards, to the detriment of the spun and 
woven fabrics.'" 

The following very interesting view upon this subject is taken frora the 
reports of juries at the London exhibition: 

" During the last few years great efiorts have been made to extend and improve the man- 
ufacture of this valuable fibre iu various parts of the world. The iucrease under the last 
head in the preceding table for 1819 is chiefly due to the importation of flax from Egypt. 
It must be remembered that, in addition to the above-mentioned quantity of flax annually im- 
ported, the manufacturers of England have consumed rather more than a quarter as much 
again, cultivated in various parts of the British empire, chiefly in Ireland. This proportion 
has also considerably increased during the last twenty years, and a most marked improve- 
ment in the cpiality of the flax itself has also been produced; a change in great measure to 
be traced to the persevering and most praiseworthy eiforts of the Royal Society for the Pro- 
motion and Improvement of Flax in Ireland. The value of flax depends, m part, on the 
cdimate and soil in which it is cultivated, and in part, also, on the mode in which the fibre is 
prepared, on the care and skill in which the process is conducted, and on the constant and 
vigilant attention which is paid to it through the various stages of the operation. According 
to its quality, its value varies from about 40 pounds to 18t» pounds per ton. 

Another circumstance which lias given a considerable impetus to the cultivation of flax, 
and is likely to produce, ere long, even yet more marked effects, is the introduction of the 
late R. B. Schenck's new process of steeping. 

"Many different modifications and peculiar modes of retting"are followed in the various flax 
districts of Belgium, Holland, and France, and in diftV-ront localities dissimilar modes of ret- 
ting have long been iu use, often involving very considerable variations m principle. Thus, 
at Courtrai, the flax crop is dried in the field and stored for some months in barns before it 
undergoes the process of retting in the river Lys. In the district of Waes it is retted imme- 
diately after being gathered, the green stems being at once thrown into pits of stagnaut 
water. As, however, the whole operation, in every kind of water retting, depends on the 
amount of fermentation profluced, (which must be enough to insure the decomposition of the 
glutinous matter, but not enough to cause any iujuiy to the fibre.) the process is necessarily 
slow, tedious, and very uncertain, especially towards the close of the operation, because tht-n 
the flax mu-t be most carefully watched, in order to put a stop to the fermentation as soon as 
the desired effect is produced. A slight change of teuipature, or a few houis' exposure, when 
the fermentation is complete, may produce the most disastrous effects, the fibre being, in fact, 
ruined Dew retting is, of course, even slower than water- retting, depending, as it neces- 
sarily does, on the nature of the season, and being greatly retarded by long continued dry 
■w'ca;her. In the very dry autumn of l""l" it was found impossible to prepare flax by this 
method, and recourse was obliged to be had to other methods of retting." 

"During the last half century various attempts have been made to effect the separation of 
the fibrous from the woody portion of the flax stem by chemical and mechanical means. In 
several ca.-^es the results at first appeared to be very promising; but in every instance it was 
soon found that there were insuperable practical objections, which more than counterbalanced 
the advantages. Aimmg chemical agents solutions nf sulphmuc acid, caustic potash, caustic 
soda, quicklime, and soft so:ip were all iu turn tried and discarded; and among mechanical 
processes the ingenious contrivances of Mr. James Leo and Messrs. Hill & Bundy shared 
the same fate. 

'•In 1SI7, and, therefore, before the publication of Lee's specification, Messrs. Hill & 
Bundy took out their patent for machinery for breaking and preparing raw flax and hemp. 
The rival claims of these two inventors were investigated in ldi7 by a committee of tha 



44 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

House of ComTr.ons; but -.vliatover may have been tlie compamtivo merit of the two processes 
in the course of a very ffw years botli were relinquished and forgotten. Since that time 
various otlitr iugcuinus uiechauical arrangements have been devised, but hitherto they have 
had very littl* success. 

"Schcnck's ))roces3. for which he obtained h patent in 1846, is undoubtedly a very import- 
ant inipitiveineut. It consists uu-rely iu steepin<? the fl;ix stems in warm water, heated arti- 
ficially to the temperaturt- best siiited to fermeutation. IJy this simple means the operation 
is rendered raj)i«l and certain, nil uncertainty from fluctuations iu the temperature and weather 
is avoided, and the whole process is entirely uiidt:r the command of tin- manufacturer. The 
temperature best suited for this purpusi' is al)out SU^, or from H(J'^ to nearly 9.''-'; above this 
point till' pnicesa proceeds too rapidly, and the libre is almost sure to be more or less injured. 
The time required is from seventy to ninety hours. 

'"From the facts and evidmice biou<^ht forward by various independent exhibitors, it ap- 
pears satisfactorily proved that the warm-water stei-pino: increases the percentage of fibre 
obtained from the fla.x stem over that obtained by th'Mtld modes of retting by nearly one-lifth; 
and that, wiiilst the tineiiess and spinning qualities of the libre are increased, the strength is 
in no w.ty weakened or diminishod unless the process be permitted to proceed too far, an 
etlect which need nrver happi-n, from the complete control over it which the manufacturer 
has throughout. Although th.re is no doubt as to the practical value of the use of warm 
water iu tia.v-rctting. yet the introduction of Schcuck's process is far from removing all the 
difficulties of the flax manufHctiue. Much still remains to be eflected, and it is by no means 
improhabK' that ere long a yet more perfect process may bo devised. 

•'It is interesting to observe that the use of warm water in the preparation of vegetable 
fibre is not altogether new, it having been long employed l)y the M:»lays, and by tiir natives 
of Riiugpoor, in Bengal. The process adopted at Bencoukn is stated by Dr. C.uupbell to 
consist ni steeping the stems of the hemp in warm water, m which it is allowed to ivm.an for 
two days and nights. The old German process called 'Molkeurost,' sometimes used in pre- 
paring tho finer sorts of flax, is also, to some extent, an application of the same principle. 
In this mode of retting, the flax was steeped lor four or five days in a warm mixture of milk 
and water, and thus the dosired degree of fermentation in the flax steins was produced. This 
operation must bo difllnigmslied from the more modern one, iu wliii-li sour milk was used in 
order to give a good color to linen, a process introduced by the Dutch towards the middle of 
tlie last century. The linen was boiled in a weak alkaline lye. and subsequently treated 
with sour buttermilk, for the purpose of aidiug in removing the alkali, and dissolving tlie 
earthy impurities present in the fibre. Occasionally, also, salt of sorrel was used tor the 
same purpose, and iu 1775 lleuss states that sulphuric and muriatic acids might be used for 
the same purpose ; but that being too costly, they had not as yet come into general use. Of 
course, all processes in which boiling, or even hot, water is used are quite different iu their 
mode of action from those in which only warm water is employed. When boiling water is 
used it is with a view of dissolving and removing the useless matters which incrust tho 
fibrous part of the plant, whilst, on the other hand, warm water is used to soften them, and 
to aid in their putreliiction or decomposition, through the agency of fernientaiiou. In 1787 
much interest was exc-ited in Ireland by the publication of a plan for improving the retting 
of flax by the action of hot water. In this scheme it was proposed to scald the flax stems in 
boiling water to soften iheiii, and to remove a portion of the extraneous vegetable matters 
which they contain, and it was conceived that after this treatment the subsequent retting of 
the fla.v would be more rapid, certain, and manageable, so that time would be saved, the 
noisome process of pond-ivttiug be obviated, and the- result be to yield a stronger and whiter 
fibre. The minute and careful experiments of llermbstaedt, on the chemical principles in- 
volved in tile rotting of flax, (made about the beginning of the present century,) threw much 
light on the whole subject, and to some extent indicated the influence of temperature on the 
success of the operation." 

Aid of chtmhtry. — Without the aid of chemistry it would have been impos- 
eibh' for texlik; fabrics to have attained their pre.seiit development. The bleach- 
ing of cotton and linen wa.s not much practiced in England until about a century 
since ; bttlbre that time they were sent to Holland, where the operation of 
bleaching consisted in steeping them in potash for a few days, afterwards for a 
week in buttermilk, and then exposing them for several months on a meadow 
to iht^ influence of the sun and moisture. A great improvement was made iu 
Scotland, by substituting sitlphuric acid for sour milk ; and the immediate 
effect wa.s to reduce the time from eight to four mouths. In 1785 a French 
chemist suggested the use of chlorine as a means of hastening the process, and 
iu the last year of the eighteenth century a compound of this gas, with lirae, 
iwas introduced by Tennant, of Scotland. 'I'he devcloprnt^nt of the cotton manu- 
^icture now becam-', imminise. By a happy adaptation ()f other chemical pro- 
cesses, in conjunction with the bleaching power of chlorine, the time req^uired 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 45 

for the whitening of cotton and linen fabrics was at once reduced from months 
to hours, while the miles of outstretched calico, defacing the verdure of country 
districts, disappeared, the whole operation being carried on within the small 
space of an ordinary factory. The bleaching of calico now consists of a chemi- 
cal operation of great precision.* 

In the last edition of Ure's Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures we find this 
branch of the subject very fully handled. The writer does not recommend the 
use of mechanical means without retting, because of the loss that must ensue 
afterwards in the processes of bleaching, &c., and for other reasons. The brief 
abstract, of various attempts to break unretted stock, refers the first to Lee, of 
England, in 1815. Pollard, at Manchester, resorted to a similar plan in 1816 
with no better success. In France and Belgium similar plans were tried, and 
found impracticable. In 1850 and 1857 Donlan revived the project, but the 
same fatal objections prevented success. The fibre was loaded with impurities 
that made the apparently greater yield, all of which had to be got rid of after- 
wards. It is admitted that the " dry separated" material may be useful in 
manufactures where no bleaching is required, and where strength is needed. To 
the remaining forcible objection that the elements" of decay are present in the 
fibre, it is claimed that such material may be used in the preparation of coarse 
fabrics like tarpaulins, that are to be invested with a protecting coat of tar, or 
for such as may be subjected to the kyanizing process. 

With all these facts before us, we could but look with hesitating approval 
upon the claims of Mallory & Sanford, that their machines could break unretted 
flax. The specimens before us were quite satisfactory, it is true, excepting that 
we found some breaking of the harls, and a harshness arising from the presence 
of the dry glutinous matter among the fibres ; but the boon had been thoroughly 
broken up, and the shives were well separated from the fibre both in tlie con- 
tributions to the museum and in green unretted stock that was broken upon the 
machine before our eyes. The rupture of the filaments must result in an increase 
of tow in the scutching and heckling processes, and, moreover, the elements of 
destruction would, to a certain extent, still remain among the fibre, ready to 
cause a change whenever exposed to the requisite degree of heat and moisture, 
so that the use of flax from unretted stock appeared to be limited to a few sub- ' 
ordinate branches of the arts. Our attention was next directed to the use of 
this material in some of the different modes of preparing flax cotton, and we are 
happy to be able to report most favorably upon the results so far as they have 
been reached, for it appears that the unretted fibre is much more easily treated 
in the processes of disintegration, and that the product needs no additional 
bleaching, whereas the blue or gray tint consequent upon retting is known to be 
very diflicult to eradicate. 

At the International Exhibition held at London, in 1862, the jury make the 
following remarks in their i^j^port upon flax and hemp : " These important fibres 
are exhibited on a large scale, and in many instances the samples show the 
results of admirable management. Both have been prepared by all the various 
methods which have been invented for separating the fibres, except the empiri- 
cal one, which, in 1851, led a majority of the jury to award a medal to Chevalier 
Claussen." 

Belgium stands first, with its beautiful flax fibres ; then northern France, 
Italy, Ilussia, and Hungary. Hemp is best shoAvn by Italy; next, Hungary, 
Eoissia, France, and Germany. 

From Canada, (Toronto,) cold-water retted, middling quality, mill-scutched, 
and being ripened for seed, is not very strong. 

From Newfoundland tolerably good, but much injured by a very injudicious 
Qj)eration, namely, dressing it with oil, a practice which is calculated to depre- 

* "VVatts's pamphlet. 



46 SUBSTITDTIXG FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

ciate it rather than to raise its value in the eyes of those skilled to judge such 
materials. 

New Soutli Wales — Linum angusi [folium, (native.) — The jury believe that 
at no dit^tant period it may become an important product of the colony. Also 
from Tasmania, Queensland, and Victoria, the same. 

Hemp. — Among the French hemps was one from Messrs. Leoni & Cobleng, 
who have introduced a practice of preparing it without retting, using mechanical 
means for disintegrating the stalk and separating the fibre from the bark and 
medullary matter. The hemp so prepared appeared to be of a very useful 
quality, but it requires long and extensive experiments to prove that the strength 
and durability of the fibre are unimpaired by this process. 

Italian hemp ranks highest in the exhibition ; irrigation used. 

Garden hemp of Italy, fibre six feet long, the color light and bright, and the 
fibre beautifully soft and flexible. 

They represent the product of the European provinces of Russia to be— 
flax, 165,000 tons; hemp, 103,000 tons. 

Export of llussia, annual average, from 1846 to 1860: 

Tons. 

Flax cleaned 55,777 

Tow and codilla 10,747 

Hemp cleaned 44,087 

Tow and codilla 20,001 

Hempen yarn for cordage 19,980 

Total 150,592 

200 tons go eastward. 

The high character of this product is owing to water- retting, which is universal, 
and to haud-scutchhig ; no machine process is used. 

The finest flax has been produced in llussia, equal even to the Courtrai of 
Belgium. 

Tons. Tons. 

In Austria, in 1860, the amount of hemp grown. . 50,000 Flax. . 100,000 
Excess imports over exports 2,400 3,000 

Totals 52,400 103,000 

Spain, very short staple. 

They found that Schenck's process of steeping in hot water is employed with 
advantage in Silesia. 

What generally struck the attention of the jury were the fibres, yarns, and 
cloth of attractive appearance and superior quality obtained from ordinary flax 
treated by the Belgian process of Lel'ebure. The fibres thus prepared keep the 
regularity, the brightness, and the strength which are characteristic of superior 
finished yarns. They are refined, divided, and prepared in such a manner that 
the yarns and cloth made from them are sufficieully white for partial bleach, 
without being creamed. The jury found st)me tow yarn as fine as 150 leas from 
France, and some English still higher. There were also some yarns 520 leas, 
very fine ; 350 is limit of fineness, generally used for practical purposes. They 
report great progress in mill-spun products since previous exhibition, especially 
by the French. 

In Courtrai they are superior in hand-spun yarns, reaching 800 and 1,000 
leas, but these are only used for the most expensive laces. 

M. Alcan, the reporter, on behalf of the jury, explains why the flax manufao- 
ture has remained almost stationary, while the manufacture of some other 
etxtiles has wonderfully increased : ' 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOB COTTON. 47 

"We notice, in the first place, that though flax is a material most easily adapted for spin- 
ning yarns, being produced by hand labor quite equal to silk in fineness, and though the 
raw material of flax in the state of fibre is about the same price as the better kinds of cotton, 
the yarns produced from flax by machinery, taken in equal length for the same weight of 
fibre, appear to cost the most of all. We must also acknowledge that it is with the greatest 
difficulty that flax-spinners have been able to produce by machinery j'arns of an extreme 
fineness, though still inferior in this respect to the fineness of the cotton yarns. As a princi- 
ple the fundamental operations for the spinning, except perhaps the preparation of the raw 
material, are the same for all fibrous substances. The combing or carding, the drawing and 
spinning, constitute, without any important distinction, these various operations, still such 
will cost much more for some one of these materials than for others, even though this material 
may not possess a nature deficient in spinning qualities. 

"The cause of this difference is that the more costly fabric is produced from material which 
is worked with greater practical difficulty, and requires more effort to complete ; this is espe- 
cially the case with the flax, the machinery for which must be decidedly stronger than that 
used for cotton, and the whole flax-spinning system must also have much more steam power 
applied, in consequence of the flax fibre not being sufficiently purified and freed from all 
heterogeneous sijjstances, ■which, of course, jiresent an obstacle to the sliding or drawing, the 
base of all spinning operations. On the present occasion we shall endeavor to give some 
explanation on the subject of steeping flax, this being the principal process by which more or 
less softness or purification of the fibre may be obtained. 

"The great fault of the flax fibre is the excessive quantity of gum, which is not extracted 
by the present steeping process ; when a new process shall have been discovered to remove 
completely this objection, there is no reason Avhy flax fibre should not be spun as easily and 
as fine as cotton. It is to be hoped, also, that by such improvement Ave may eventually obtain 
a class of yarns more elastic, and that the cloth made from them may weave more readily, 
and in the end give greater satisfaction and durability. If we pass from the flax fibre to 
that of hemp and other similar substances, we find the hemp inferior to flax in softness and 
minuteness of subdivision, making it more difficult to spin; we find also that China-grass has 
the same defect in a much higher degree, while it is also much more costly. If jute manu- 
factures have made such rapid progress it can be easily accounted for by the low cost of 
material, combined with a considerable amount of spinning quality. 

"We may remark, before concluding these reflexions, that great attention is now being 
given to the flax-steeping process, and in consequence the real cause of the difficulty of the 
fibre for spinning, as explained above, has thus become every day more generally known. 
We may hope, therefore, that at no late date the process of steeping Avm be improved to an 
extent equal to the great progress which the other manufactures, dependent on the aid of 
chemistry, have lately made. The Lefebure process, and the products thus prepared, as Avell 
as some other attempts in the same direction, constitute an important step, which causes us 
to anticipate some advantageous results from a more perfect and rational mode of steeping. 
Having so fully referred to the steeping process, the importance of which can scarcely be 
exaggerated, we may remark, in conclusion, that the greatly enhanced cost of flax during late 
years has caused a considerable advance in the cost of all kinds of pure linen goods, which 
fact has, without doubt, in some degree, contributed towards the want of advance in the linen 
trade, which has already been referred to. By extending the cultivation of the flax plant to 
some other countries, greater cheapness in the cost of the raw material may be attained. We 
believe the north of Europe is well adapted, by climate and by cheapness of labor, as well 
as inexpensive soil, for a greater extent of this cultivation, and can hope so desirable an 
object will not be lost sight of." 

Letter from E. Towne. 

Utica, N. Y., February 22, 1864. 

The sample marked 1 was manufactured from fine tow, as made by flax dressers, which 
contained nearly fifty per cent, of shives and dust ; the latter were mostly separated by a 
machine called a willow, or duster, but leaving some shives so firmly attached to the fibre that 
it Avas next subjected to the picker, Avhich removed most of the balance of the shives, and 
also broke or shortened the length of the fibres. The cleaned tow Avas then boiled in an 
alkahne ley for eight hours, then, after being well washed, Avas steeped in dissolved chloride 
of lime tweh'e hours, then drained, then put in sour liquor for tAvo hours, then Avashed in 
clean Avater, then the boiling, steeping, &c., in new-made liquor repeated. 

If, at this stage, the fibres be not found of desirable fineness, they may be further divided 
by soaking iu a strong solution of bicarbonate of soda, and then in a sour liquor. It is 
deemed best not to divide tlie fibres too much in the earlier stages of bleaching, as thereby 
they Avould be Aveakened so u nch as to break more in bleaching. 

After being dried, the matieJ fibres are separated by passing through a picker, or strong 
cards, made for the purpose. 

_ The loss in Aveight by full bleaching clean dew-rotted tow, including the loss in dust and 
light particles, is about thirty-seven and one-half to forty per cent. 



48 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Valuing- tow, as it comes from the flax-drcssors, at five cents per pound, (which \h as low 
S8 I havt; known it to bo sold the past year,) will make the cost of No. 1 about thirty-three 
ceutt) per pound ; thus — 

],000 jiounds tow (with the shives adhering,) at 5 cents per pound $r)0 00 

Cost of separating the shives (MO pounds net,) at o cents per pound 15 00 

Bleaching -fW j)ounds clean tow lio 00 

Picking and carding 3UU pounds bleached tow, at 3 cents per pound 9 00 

Cost of 300 pounds bleached tow, or flax cotton t)9 00 

Or 83 cents per pound. Numbers 2 and 3 are one-half bleached. This was done by dis- 
solving and mixing together about equal quantities of soda ash and chloride of lime, say eight 
pounds each to one hundred pounds tow, and in the clear liquor steeping the tow (cleaned of 
shives) for three to four hours ; it must then bo soured and washed, dried and picked. 

Cost of 100 pounds clean tow $13 00 

Cost of bleaching materials 72 

Cost of labor and picking and carding 3 35 

Result, 75 pounds half bleached tow (or flax wool) costing 17 07 

Or costing per pound ^"^J/il) 



Numbers 3 and 4 differ only in length of fibre — the shorter is made by passing a second 
time tluough the picker. 

It is easy to reduce the fibres so that none shall exceed a given length, but, from their 
structure, they are liable to bo more or less broken by the subsequent rough treatment to 
which they are necessarily subjected. 

A manufacturer of woollens has used a small quantity of No. 1, carding it with wool. He 
reports: "It worked in every respect fis well as cotton, and in the finish was fully equal, 
while the color it receives is undoubtedly more durable than that of cotton." I regret ihe 
cloth was sent to market without a sample being taken. 

From numerous experiments 1 have made I aiu satisfied there is no saving in expense or 
material in using non-retted flax. The matters removed by water or dew-retting are all re- 
moved in bleaching, but at the expense of additional quantities of materials. Goods made 
from non-retted flax and not bleached will be ."slazy" ^vheu moistened, and liable to early 
decay. 

The cost of Nos. 1, 2, and 3 is based on the present price of tow, as it falls from the 
second and third knives of the flax-dresser. Owing to the large demand for flax at prices 
of ]8 to 22 cents, fine tow, in the rough, is salable at 5 cents. 

I have spent nuich time, and been at no inconsiderable expense in experimenting. I 
intend pursuing the subject as I have opportunities for so doing, in the hope of realizing 
valuable results. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

E.TOWNE. 

STATEMENT 

I herewith beg to submit my treatment of converting fla into a cottonized substance: 

I commence by taking the flax straw gathered witcit fully ripe, either tangled or straight, 
after the seed has been taken oft". The straw, after being air-dried, is passed through a liax 
breaker, of Sanford & Mallory's make. By the operation of this machine the boon, or bark, 
is, to a considerable extent, separated from the fibre, and the stem loses about fifty per cent, 
of its original weight and reduced to one-half of its original bulk. After breaking it is put 
through a picker and duster by which a large portion of the adherent jiortions of wood are 
removed. The fibre is now ready for boiling. The boiling consists of the following process: 

To every ton of the fibre add as much water as will well cover it, and aftenvards introducing 
into it about five per cent, of a solution of caustic soda of the specific gravity 1.50*^. (The 
caustic soda is made by adding caustic lime to a solution of soda ash in the proportion of two 
parts of lime, six parts of water, and two of soda, and twelve parts of water. This is the 
concentrated liquid.) The fibre is allowed to boil three hours, and then is passed into a solu- 
tion of carbonate of soda of five per cent.; then into a solution of sulphuric acid of one and 
a half per cent.; then into a solution of soda ash, same strength as before. It is then partially 
split and ready for bleaching. 

The bleaching li(piid is hypochloride of magnesia, made by taking one part by weight ot 
chloride of lime to twelve parts of water ; and in a separate vessel, two juirts of sulphate of 
magnesia to twelve parts water. Mix tlu^ two solutions toge(ti>.r, the clear li(iuid is then 
diluted to 3° Twaddle, specific gravity 1".015. Wheji sulficien'Jy bleached, is then removed 
to a solution of carbonate of .soda, same strength as before, and left there half an hour; then 
passed into a solution of sulphuric acid, same strength as before, and allowed to remain there 
as long as any disengagement of gas is visible ; then wash the fibre in a weak solutimu of 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 49 

oil soap. It is then dried by passing through a wringer and passed over heated copper cylinders 
to the picker and duster. It is then carded on a Dundee card, and is finished by passing through 
a 48-inch wool card. The time occupied in the 'operation of boiUng and steepicg process to 
the state ready for cardiug is six hours. 
The expense of converting one ton of flax straw into flax-cotton is as follows : 

One ton of flax straw $10 00 

Breaking one ton of straw 2 50 

Picking and dusting 1,000 pounds 1 00 

Boiling in caustic soda fiTO pounds ,... 2 50 

Labor in steeping and chemicals 16 00 

Washing and drying 2 00 

Picking and dusting 354 pounds 50 

Dundee carding 50 

Carding on wool cards 291 pounds, producing 257 pounds 5 00 

Total cost 40 00 



Or less than sixteen cents a pound, exclusive of rent, interest, and insurance, which the 
bleached flax waste will cover. It has been sold to paper-makers at four and a half cents per 
pound. The sliives and other waste are used for fuel under boilers. 

Cost of machines and vats. 

Breaker $355 00 

Picker 175 00 

Duster, or willow 150 00 

Picker for white stuff 250 00 

Dundee card 750 00 

Wool card for finishing 1, 100 00 

One boiling iron vat 1.50 00 

Six wooden vats 300 00 



3, 230 00 



The recent advance in the price of chemicals 'has raised the cost of production. 

I adopt the Claussen process, having purchased the light for the use of his patent for the 
United States, having practically experimented upon it, and fully demonstrated the most fa- 
vorable results. In 1854 I commenced manufacturing flax cotton at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 
and produced a sufiScient quantity on a commercial scale to induce a number of gentlemen 
to form an organized company, with a capital of j^'.i00,000; but from the low price of cotton 
and wool at that time, and the unfavorable state of the money market, and the prostration of 
the manufacturing interest, and from the prejudices of manufacturers to use a new staple, 
they became discouraged, and from some of the shareholders not paying their full instalments 
of shares, the company disposed of their property after having produced about tea tons of 
flax cotton. Most of it was purchased by Messrs. Lawrence & Stone for their manufactory 
at Lowell. 

I can prove from practical experience that flax and hemp can be converted into a fibre 
stronger than cotton or wool, and capable of taking better color than either; can be spun and 
wove on the existing cotton and woollen machinery at a cost below cotton or avooI at any 
time, there being less waste. It will mix and felt with wool, having had it mixed with wool 
and made into cloth and hats, and I had them worn in my family and found them much more 
durable than all-wool. 

There has been a great deal of prejudice against some portions of Claussen's process totally 
unfounded and misconceived. For instance, that it was not suitable for making long flax, 
but rather that all, long and short, indiscriminately, was converted into flax cotton : the fact 
is the reverse. No doubt the flax cotton is the greatest novelty, a new article of commerce, 
and so becomes the most prominent feature in the various inventions. The long flax, how- 
ever, through Claussen's process, is produced in better condition than as at present for tho 
manufacturer, and what is indifterent and not sufiiciently well grown for long flax is quite 
suitable for, and is converted into, flax-cotton, also common tow, and such like stuff. By 
this process the flax, instead of being pulled in a green state, is allowed .to ripen tho seed, 
and can be cut with a mowing machine. The fanner by this means saves the great expense 
of pulling, and has the seed, which alone pays for raising the crop, and by breaking the 
straw with a hand machine, such as Sanford & Mallory's, he can return to the land nearly 
one-half the weight as manure. The shives contain silica, and by feeding his cattle tho 
refuse seed and bolls, he also obtains a rich manure. In 1854 I had an agent in Washing- 
ton exhibiting specimens showing the whole of Claussen's process, from the flax straw to 
the finished cotton, linen, and woollen fabrics, in a bleached, unbleached, and dyed state. 
Yoiu's, respectful! V, 

H. McFARLANE. 
Ex. Doc. 35 4 



50 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



New York, September 4, 18G3, 

No. 242 West 20th street. 

Sir : I find in this 'taoniing's paper a notice of the meeting of the boavd of commissionera 
appoiuted by the Commissioner of Agriculture to consider the subject of the use of flax 
aud lieuip as a substitute for cotton. 

Desiriug to lay before the commission some facts in relation ^o a discovery in the mode 
of curiug"tlax so as to make it useful as such a substitute, I take the liberty of addi-essing 
myself to you, sir, as the chief commissioner. 

As long ago as the year 1852, while residing at the Hague, and acting in the capacity of 
private secretary to our minister at the court of the Netlierhinds, Hon. George Folsom, 
I made the uccpiaintancc of a Hollander who claimed to have made a great discovery in the 
prcpuiation of thix for spinning. It was much talked of at the time, and the Dutch govern- 
ment made a proposition to the inventor to put his new method into practical use. Similar 
propositions were also made to him by parties in England, France, and Belgium. I read 
some of the letters which he received from these parties at the time. He declined them all, 
giving me as a reason for so doing, that he was afraid of being deceived by them, and cheated 
out ot^the profits which he believed he would ultimately derive from his discovery. Specimens 
of his tlax were exhibited at the World's Fair in Loudon, in 18rj2, for which he received a 
medal, &c., from the commissioners. It was just at the time when Claussen was sounding 
his trumpet through the public journals about flax-cotton, and the invention of my Holland 
friend was overshadowed by the umbrageous fame of the since unfortunate chevalier. 

I was led, by some interviews I had with the inventor, to write to a friend in Boston on 
the subject, euclosing samples of the flax, and asking him to consult with Mr. Lawrence 
(Amos or Samuel, I think the latter,) ujjon the matter. The result of that correspondence, 
after receiving Mr. Lawrence's very sanguine opinion, was, that I entered into an ao-reement 
with the inventor, and sailed for New York with the identical samples of the flax which had 
been exhibited at the Worlds Fair. After a long and stormy passage, which culminated in 
shipwreck, I reached New York and proceeded at once to Boston, where I learned of the 
death of Mr. Lawrence. I visited several of the manufacturing towns of New England, and 
showed my samples to different manufacturers. They were taken by surprise by the appear- 
ance of the flax, and seemed incredulous of the statement concerning the short time required 
to brino- the staple into the state in which they saw it, and also of the cheapness with which 
it could be done. After some fruitless endeavors to interest them in it (they being all cotton 
spinners) I abandoned the whole thing. 

Last suunner I was induced, by the interest I saw was taking hold of the public mind in 
the matter of procuring a substitute for cotton, to write to the inventor on the subject, and I 
received i letter from him written in Loudon, where he had been residing lor several years, 
practicing as a dentist, and carrying on his experiments with flax, hemp, and India fibres. 
He sent me some new samples, more perfect than the ones I had before seen. These samples 
I showed to Hon. Washington Hunt last fall, whom I met at our general convention, and 
who is interested in a manufactory for the dressing and spiiming of flax in Lockport. Ho 
acknowledged them to be flner than anything they had as yet been able to produce, and ex- 
pressed the wish that I would visit liOckport and talk with him further on the subject. It 
was not I'onvenient for me to do so, however. I aftenvards gave this samples to a friend, who 
showed tlx'm to some private individuals, who authorized mc to make a proposition to my 
friend in London to come to this country and demonstrate what he could do. In reply to my 
letter, he wrote that he could not entertain such a proposition ; but requested the gentlemen 
to send out a competent person, haviug a practical knowledge of the culture, curing, and 
spinning of flax, to investigate the merits of his process, and with powers to enter into a 
contract with him. The parties were not willing to do this, and I have not since made any 
exertion to interest others ; only, at the request of a friend, I have allowed my specimens to 
be sent to the Hon. Addison 11. Laflin, of Herkimer, N. Y., who is largely interested in 
a new invention for the manufacture of paper from wood. 

The specimens that I have are of several different kinds— some being prepared for ordi- 
nary flax machinery, and others for spinning on cotton machinery. These latter samples I 
have received since my interview with Governiir Hunt. Th(\y closely resemble cotton, both 
in texture and in the length of the staple, being wholly unlike eitlier the Lockport, Penn 
Yan, or any other specimens I have ever seen, and entirely different from the Claussen flax- 
cotton. Tlie time required to bring the raw flux, in the straw, into its cottonized slate is one 
day. The Lockport process takes from three to five days. By our friend's process there is 
less waste than by the Lockport process, and the expense is no greater. 

Since I wrote last to the inventor in London, giving him the answer of the parties hero to 
his proixtsition, I have received flom him a London paper containin;^ an account of a meeting 
of manufacturers and others, presided over by an English earl, wnose name escapes me at 
this moment, at which a statement written by my friend was read, (relative to the invention,) 
and a eonnuittee appointed to test the merits of the same. Several members of the meeting 
pledged themselves to furnish the funds necessary for that purpose, and also for the purpose 
of going into the manufacture of it, if found to be as valuable as it then seemed to them to 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 51 

be. I am sorry I have not the paper here to refer to. I have not yet learned the result of 
these investigations. I do not believe, however, that the inventor will divulc^e the secret of 
his invention; or that he will enter into any contract which will shut him off from brinp-ino- 
the thing out in this country, in case sufficient inducement should be held out to him within 
a reasonable length of time. 

I have been induced to write you upon this subject in the hope that it may lead to an in- 
vestigation of my friend's discovery, on the part of your commission, and that our country, 
and not England, may reap the profits of this invention, if it should prove to be as valuable 
as I have every reason to believe that it is. To promote this object I will do whatever lies in 
my power, and which may be consistent with my clerical duties and obligations. I will only 
add that I would be glad to meet here any of the gentlemen of the commission who may be 
visiting New York, and will endeavor to have the samples referred to in this letter returned 
into my possession next week. 

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, 

E. FOLSOM BAKER, 
At Church of the Annunciation, NeioYork. 

Hon. J. MOREHEAD, Pittshurg, Pa. 

FOURTH SUBDIVISION, OR MANUFACTURING STAGE. 

A leading object of the appropriation having been to test the practicability of 
substituting the fibres of flax for cotton, on cotton machinery, and also of mix- 
ing them instead of cotton with wool, we have directed our attention particularly 
to such modes of assimilating these fibres to cotton as would, in our judgment, 
be likely to accomplish the desired results, and to such modifications of cotton 
machinery (wool machinery not requiring any changes) as would best adapt it 
to the production of yarn from such assimilated fibres. We have not deemed 
it necessary to give much time to the mechanical modes of long-line flax-spin- 
ning now in general use in European countries, as the raising of marketable 
flax for long-line imposes too many burdens on the growers, and is produced 
at too great a sacrifice of seed to warrant, at present, its extensive cultivation in 
this country. Both the raising of flax for long-line, and its manufacture by 
machinery where grown, seem to be better adapted to countries of humid cli- 
mates, and of comparatively small areas for cultivation, subdivided among a 
dense population accustomed to cheap manipulating labor. There are very few 
mills of this kind in the United States, and most of these are using long-line 
for coarse fabrics, obtained to a considerable extent in the Oanadas, whence 
it is imported free of duty under the reciprocity treaty. A member of this 
commission recently visited one of these mills at Braintree, Massachusetts, and 
was shown the various machines and processes for making coarse, long-line 
yarn and cloth. It is well known that the only mill of this class in our country 
fully equipped for spinning and weaving fine long-line yarns, (located at Fall 
River, Massachusetts,) was, after a great outlay of capital and immense exer- 
tions to operate at a profit, converted into a cotton mill at a heavy loss, in con- 
sequence of an insufficient home supply, the mill being precluded from using 
foreign stock by a practically interdictive duty. 

After the most careful consideration of various modes of growing and treat- 
ing flax to obtain the best results to the farmer, and an abundant supply to the 
manufacturer, we are of the opinion that the crop should be planted mainly for 
the seed, and incidentally for the fibre ; that to insure the greatest profit to the 
grower from both these sources, there should be sown from four to six pecks of 
seed to the acre ; that if the crop is designed for ultimate fibre, i. e., flax-cotton, 
it should be harvested by machine cutting in the morning after the dew is oiF, 
when the seeds are sufficiently in the glaze to be of brown color ; thereby 
securing the greatest supply of oil and the least rigid condition of fibre ; that it 
should be exposed to the sun through the day, cocked towards night, and treated 
in other respects like grass cut for hay, avoiding as much as possible exposure 
to rain or dew ; that the seed should be threshed in the cheapest and most con- 
venient manner regardless of the tangled condition of the straw ; that the latter 



52 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

f-hould, for ,the effectual removal of the sliives, bo pubjectecl to the action of 
approved power brakes, (we give the preference to jMallory & Sandford's twelve- 
roller kind,) located either on the farms or at convenient points for the neigh- 
borhood patronage; that in this form it should be rough-baled and sold to 
chemical di.-<integrating works, to be there further divested of dirt and shives 
by mechanical means, and exposed to high steam in combination with mild or 
strong alkaline solutions for disintegration, and in this finished form sold as 
stock for manufacturing into fine linen fabrics on cotton machinery. Flax 
cotton from such stock will be reliable for uniformity of strength, and be suffi- 
ciently white without bleaching prior to its manufacture into cloth. 

But if the crop is designed for short stock to bo manufactured on modified 
cotton machinery into coarse linen goods without chemical disintegration, we 
recommend retting the straw, and that on taking the flax from the brakes it be 
subjected to the further action of power disintegrating, shortening and clean- 
ing machinery, to be located at convenient centres in flax-growing districts, and 
there be baled for flie market. 

We are aware there is an impression that unretted straw cannot be success- 
fully divested of its shives by mechanical means. This impression is probably 
batjed upon the imperfect mode hitherto practiced in harvesting the crop. The 
straw, even if intended to be left in an unretted state, is generally permitted to 
lie more or lesa exposed to dew or showers a few days after cutting. This 
partial wetting and drying appears to have a tendency to crystallize the gluten 
or cellulose between the filaments and woody portion, which makes it more 
adhesive and harder to separate ; but if the straw is harvested and dried with- 
out exposure to moisture, the crystallizing process not being developed, we 
think the shives will, under the action of properly constructed brakes, readily 
separate from the fibres. We have seen unretted, tangled, as well as straight 
straw, quite thoroughly divested of shives after passing twice through a single 
head of Mallory & Sanford's brake, with the horizontal, rotating and vibrating 
rolls, placed in sets one above another. 

It is estimated that retted straw shrinks in weight about fifteen per cent., 
while the fibre loses very little of its weight. This is caused by the partial 
decomposition of the shives and a portion of the gluten or intercellulose ; so 
that if the straw crop is sold in an iinretted state a proportional allowance 
should be made for its extra weight, less the value of the unretted shives for 
cattle-feeding, which is said to be considerable, as their oleaginous properties 
make them quite nutritious. A ton of retted straw in good condition produces 
about 450 pounds of flax, while a. ton of unretted produces only about 380 
pounds. Good retted straw in ordinary times is worth, in flax districts, say 
eleven dollars per ton of 2,000 pounds, equal to 2^ cents per pound for the flax. 
This gives a proportional value of nine dollars per ton for unretted straw, 
equal to 2.J cents per pound for each kind of flax. The cost of labor, supplies, 
power, supervision and use of machinery and buildings for converting the straw 
into flax, is also about 2^ cents per pound ; making the entire cost of the 
flax at the brake machines five cents per pound. This, if sold at seven cents, 
in ordinary times would give a liberal profit to the proprietors of such machines ; 
but flax in this form will, of course, be subject to a diminution in weight when 
further divested of its glutinous substance, straggling shives and seed-ends, by 
the action of preliminary machinery for converting it into filaments and fibres 
of the requisite fineness and length to be spun into coarse yarn, which with the 
loss of short fibre in manufacturing, and tare of the bags and ropes, will be fully 
equal to twenty per cent, of its weight, thereby adding two cents per pound to 
the first cost; to which must also he added lA cent pt r pound for railroad and 
mill transportation and other expenses, making the entire cost of the stock in 
ordinary times at the consuming mills about lOi cents per pound. 

The same stock sold from the brake machines at seven cents per pound to 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 53 

tlie proprietors of mechanical and chemical disintegrating works, to be "cotton- 
ized" for yarn suitable to weave into print-cloths or shirtings, would be subject 
to a loss in the respective processes of about forty -five per cent, of its Aveight, 
thereby adding about 6^- cents per pound to the cost ; to which must also be 
added Ij cent per pound for raih-oad and works transportation and other ex- 
penses, making the cost at tlie works thus f^ir fifteen cents per pound. The 
cost of cottonizing, including the preliminary mechanical operations at the 
works, will be about four cents per pound net weight, making the entire cost at 
the works in ordinary times, exclusive of any charge for profit, about nineteen 
cents per pound. 

If any of the manufacturing trade should be apprehensive under this estimate 
that the difi'ereuce in value between flax-cotton and cotton in ordinary times 
would discourage the use of the former, no matter how perfect the stock may 
be prepared, we would remind such, that if linen goods continue to maintain 
their suprem.icy in the market, print -cloths or shirtings made of flax-cotton 
would probably command a price that would leave a larger difference in favor 
of the manufacturer than the difference of cost between the two kinds of stock. 

In the early stage of the effort to cottonize, there was a general belief among 
experts (including the Chevalier Claussen, and also Mr. Sands Olcott, of Penn- 
sylvania, the pioneer in this country of flax-cotton, and who patented a flax- 
straw cutting machine in 1S40) that it would be necessary to cut th ; straw into 
lengths comparing favorably with the length of cotton; but a critical and micro- 
scopic analysis of the constituent parts of the fibrous covering of the straw 
revealed the fact that the filaments of which it was composed were subdivided 
into cells or individual tubular fibres, of nearly uniform fineness, and somewhat 
variable lengths, cemented longitudinally by intercellulose, or gluten, which, 
while it would to a great extent resist the disintegrating power of machinery, 
could not maintain its cohesion against the liberating and dissolving power of 
tepid-water soaking, followed by long-continued boiling in mild alkaline solu- 
tions and subsequent exposure for a short time to high steam ; or by boiling at 
a temperature of 280'^ Fahrenheit, with soda-ash or caustic solution, without 
any preliminary processes. 

It then became a question to what degree of fineness and maximum and mini- 
mum lengths of fibre can flax be safely reduced by mechanical means only ; 
and in what way can the product of such means be successfully spun into coarse 
yarn on cotton machinery ? These questions have been met by the owners of 
a number of cotton mills in various parts of the country that have heretofore 
been employed in manufacturing the lower and coarse grades of cotton goods. 
Some of these mills, especially those that are located in flax-growing regions, 
began with tangled straw, and carried it successfully through draught-roller brakes, 
dusters, and wool and cotton pickers, thereby preparing their own stock ; while 
others situated remotely from such districts have preferred purchasing their 
supply in bales, of parties residing there who have made the preparation of 
such stock a special business. The latter mode of obtaining it, besides being in 
accordance with the views of the commission, seems best adapted to encourage 
the alteration of this class of cotton mills into flax mills; and also for supplying 
flax disintegrating works with material to be transformed into flax-cotton for 
use by a higher class of cotton mills in the production of fine linen goods. 

In determining the question of length of stock by means of preparatory 
machinery, it has been found impracticable to obtain, by any combination of 
machines yet employed, maximum lengths o-f fibre less than about three inches, 
without reducing the minimum lengths shorter than the fibres of cotton ; and 
hence it became necessary to depend for the further reduction of the maximum 
lengths upon modifications of the machinery at the mills as arranged for cotton. 
To this branch of the subject the commission has given much attention, but as 
a report of our investigations is expected in time for distribution soon after the 



54 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

closing of the present Congress, we have reluctantly suspended our labors with- 
out obtaining as full results as the magnitude of the inquiry calls for, or as the 
light already obtained ])romises. We did not think it desirable at the com- 
mencement of our labors, while the^mannfacturers of both flax and cotton as well 
as ourselves were in a comparatively undeveloped state, to use the appropriation 
in crude experiments, or expenditures that might result only in loss. We pre- 
ferred, as far as possible, to avail ourselves of thi; incipient etlbrts of those whom 
patriotism or hope of securing monopolies had stimulated to attempt the solution 
of the cottoniziug problem. To this end, two of our commission visited in the 
past autumn nearly all the points in the western and eastern portion of the 
country, and in the Canadas, where particular attention had been given either 
to the growth or manufacture of flax. From these visitations and conferences, 
to which have since been added our own experiments, we have reached conclu- 
sions both in r.cgard to the most promising modes of using flax cotton prepared 
exclusively by mechanical means for the manufacture of coarse goods, and by 
combined mechanical and chemical means for the manufacture of tine goods on 
cotton machinery, which we will now proceed to delineate, premising that if the 
unexpended balance of the appropriation is devoted to further discoveries by 
this or a new commission, the results might be given in a supplementary report 
at the first session of the next Congress. We think this course preferable to a 
lapse by " non-user" of the unexpended part, and much more likely to result in 
a larger contribution of valuable knowledge to the public upon this highly 
national investigation than a distribution of it in small sums to the many enter- 
prising parties in different sections of the country who have so courteously 
responded to our call for information, and who have so generously sent speci- 
mens of their various productions for the museum of the Department. 

Very good short flax stock is prepared from tangled straw for coarse yarn 
mills by Randall's, Clemens's, Smith's, and several other series of machines, 
but the cleanest and finest short stock that has come under our notice is that 
obtained from the Davics machine, made at Dayton, Ohio. This machine is com- 
posed of an iron or wooden frame, having a series of five open aprons, fluted feed 
rolls that rotate in iron shells, and wooden cylinders which have diameters of a 
foot each, and revolve about six hundred times per minute. The surface of the 
cylinders is perforated for the reception of square spring-tempered No. 12 Avires, 
square at the ends, and inserted in the apertures in. spiral rows converging from 
the heads towards the centres, and projecting f'-om the surface about half an 
inch. The flax either in the straw (if retted) or in the form of crude tow is fed 
on a level apron through the feed rolls to the first cylinders, from which it is 
thrown on an inclined apron to be carried to the second set of feed rolls and the 
second' cylinder, and then successively over the other inclined aprons, and 
through the other feed rolls, and over the other cylinders, until delivered at the 
end of the machine in bulk, when it is collected and baled in the same manner 
as cotton for the market. 

In this form it is carried into cotton mills and presented first to the lapper, no 
preliminary operations being required, as it is to a great extent free from shives, 
dirt, or other extraneous matter. But as this stock, notwithstanding its com- 
parative cleanliness and the ease with which it is made into laps, is too coarse 
and uneven for the carding process, without modifying the lapper beaters to 
adapt them for shortening the long filaments and fibres and making all the fibres 
finer, we added to each of the beaters another set of arms, and attached at the 
ends in lieu of knivcjs wooden lags two and a half inches wide. The fronts of 
these were covered with strips of leather two inches wide, into which were in- 
serted curved and pointed teeth of No. 14 wire, with their points on the same 
periphery as the knives on the other arms, and which, when in motion, rotate 
within about one-eighth of an inch of the periphery of the feed rolls. The 
speed of the boaters, arranged in this manner, should be about 2,000 revolutions 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 55 

per minute. When the beaters are bo equipped, they not only distribute the 
grist evenly on the wire cylinders .and lap rollers, but if the laps are doubled 
and carried through the lapper a second time, they disintegrate the filaments so 
thoroughly as to largely increase their number, and at the same time materially 
shorten those that were of too great length for the subsequent operations in the 
mill, without visibly shortening those that were sufiiciently short in the bale. 
The laps so prepared are next carried to the carding machines, the carding 
power of which, in a great number of American mills, is in a main cylinder, 
doffcr, and top- flats, all covered with fine chisel-pointed wire clothing, which, 
although well adapted for carding cotton, is considered insufficient for carding 
flax fibre. The insufficiency is caused by the fact that flax fibres have less 
elasticity and greater specific gravity than cotton, and are withal straight rather 
than curled like the latter, and hence do not rest easily upon the surface of the 
teeth, but are inclined to imbed themselves among the teeth, which makes it 
desirable to substitute needle-pointed clothing for chisel-pointed on the main 
cylinders and doflers, and also to substitute working, stripping, and fancy cyl- 
inders for the top-flats, which should likewise be covered (except the fancy) 
with needle-pointed clothing. This form of the teeth permits the workers and 
strippers, aided by the long and flexible teeth of the fancy, to act freely on the 
main cylinder, keeping the stock upon its surface and ready for delivery to the 
doflfer. If the chisel-pointed clothing, however, of the main cylinders and doffers 
is in good condition, and the stock is well prepared, it can be used in c mnexion 
with the working, stripping, and fancy cylinders, but the two former kinds must 
have needle-pointed clolhiug. The latter is always covered with long, fine, and 
flexible clothing. The surface velocity of the fancy cylinder should be about 
twenty-five feet faster than the surface velocity of the main cylinder ; the workers 
and strippers should run at the usual speeds ; and one worker and one stripper 
are sufficient for one card. The cards should have screens of perfoi-ated sheet 
zinc under the main cylinders, and the licker-in cylinders (if there are any") 
about three-eighths of an inch from their surfaces, otherwise too much of the 
stock will be thrown off in the form of waste by the centrifugal forces developed 
iu the rotation of these cylindei'S. The feed rolls should be heavily weighted, 
and their speed be increased about twenty-five per cent. The stock may be 
carded once or twice. We think once is sufficient. In either case, the fleece 
should first be delivered into a railway trough; and, if intended for a second 
carding, the product or sliver should be collected from calender rolls without 
being lengthened, and made into laps for the finishing cards, and from their rail- 
way should be drawn by means of a draught railhead from two and a half to 
three inches. This head should have three under rolls one and one- quarter 
inch iu diameter placed about three and a half inches from centre to centre of 
the back and front rolls. The back and front rolls should be fluted or corru- 
gated ; the back top roll should also be fluted or corrugated, while the front top 
roll should be covered either with vulcanized rubber or gutta-percha, (the latter 
can be had at 153 Broadway, New York, of the Gutta-Percha Manufacturing 
Company,) and both rolls should be one and one-half inch in diameter. The 
middle under roll should be encircled by a spring gill, with collars at either end, 
rising an eighth of an inch above the points of the gill needles; the back top roll 
should be slightly weighted, and the front top heavily. The entire draught 
should be between the gill roll and the front roll. The shivers from this head 
should be collected in cans, and passed through either one or two heads of a 
drawing frame, with gills on the middle under rolls, and with top rolls fitted like 
the top rolls of the railhead, doubling the slivers at the draughts, which should 
not exceed one inch into fom\ From the drawing frame the stock should be 
made into condensed and untwisted roving on a Taunton speeder, arranged with 
gills on the middle roll, and with top rolls similar to the rail and d'-awing frame 
heads. The spinning frames may have either rings or flyers for twisting. As 



u 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 




good yarn can be had from one as the other, it is indispensable that the frames 
should have largo rings or flyers designed for coarse spinning only, as the kind 
of stock we are treating of cannot at present be made into liner yarn than num- 
bers ranging from six to ten, (cotton gauge,) and it is wholly impracticable to 
think of spinning it on frames designed for yai'n ranging between twenty and 
thirty-live skeins to the pound. U'he frames for this stock must be arranged 
with a draught not exceeding one inch into six inches, and should be fitted with 
spring gills on the middle rolls for each spindle, and with uncovered smooth 

iron back top rolls one and a half inch in 
diameter without weights. The front rolls 
should compare with the front rolls in the pre- 
ceding operations. These spiuning gills con- 
sist of twenty rows of tapering- needles seven- 
sixteenths of an inch long and one thirty- 
second of an inch in diameter at the base, six 
in a row, one-sixteenth of an inch apart, and 
inserted obliquely through apertures in a brass 
hollow cylinder one and seven- sixteenths inch 
in exterior diameter, and projecting through 
the surface four sixteenths of an inch, making 
the entire diameter of the periphery of the 
points one and fifteen-sixteenths inch, with 
brass collars at their ends one and six-six- 
teenths inch exterior, and f lurteen-sixteenths 
of an inch interior diameter, and flanches to 
the same, one and nine-sixteenths inch in diameter, fitted with steady pins and set 
Bcrews for attachingthe entire gill to the middle roll. The gills cost three dollars 
each ; the needles can be purchased at $2 50 per thousand. These gills, as well 
as the larger kind for railheads, drawing frames, and speeders, are made by 
Messrs. Lanphear, Levalley & Co., at Phenix Village, Rhode Island. 

The yarn spun from this stock makes excellent twine, and can be woven into 
crash, osnabuigs, burlaps, and sugar cloths ; and, when doubled for warp, it 
makes very superior grain bngs. 

Foremost among the cotton mills that have been altered substantially in the 
"way we have described to make some of the above fabrics, are the Hope and 
Penn mills, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, owned by James II. Ohilds, esq., and 
others. The best flax grain bags in the country are made at these mills, and at 
the same mills are also made very superior stock for battings and for the use of 
npholsterers. Too much credit cannot be given to the proprietors of these mills 
for their patriotic and successful efforts to disenthral the north from entire de- 
pendence on cotton for these manufactures, and for the encouragement they have 
given to the owners of other mills to follow their praiseworthy example. The 
milh at Lockport, New York, owned by ex-Governor Hunt and others, are also 
producing excellent brown and bleached stock for upholstery, waddings, and 
coarse yarns, as well as twine of a very high grade. The Medina Plax Com- 
pany's Works, at Medina, IS'ew York, are likewise producing goods of a similar 
character of supeiior quality. 'J'o this list nnist be added the mills of Governor 
Smith and others, in Warwick, Rhode Island, that are making grain bags of 
excellent quality, besides carpet wai ps, twine, and rugs. There are many other 
successful pi neers in this branch of flax manufacture obtaining most encouraging 
results, so that this department of substituting flax for cotton on cotton ma- 
chinery may be considered no longer problematical, but a success. 

Having thus portrayed what we conceive to be the best mechanical mode of 
disintegrating, shorten. ng, and otherwise preparing flax for coarse yarn stock, 
and the best mode of carrying such stock through the various processes into 
yarn ou cotton machinery for the manufacture of coarse linen goods, we will 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 57 

next present the results of our efforts, and tlie efforts of others as observed by 
us, to cottonize flax by combined mechanical and chemical means to the requi- 
site fineness, evenness, and strength for being manufactured into print cloths, 
shirtings, or sheetings, on cotton machinery, either by an admixture of from 
fifty to seventy-five per cent, of the fibres with cotton, or by their exclusive 
use as flax-cotton. It is wholly impracticable to disintegrate flax into its ulti- 
mate fibre or cells without the intervention of a solvent for the intercellulose 
or gluten, as previously indicated. And we think it is equally impracticable to 
rely upon mere mechanical forces to separate the fibres after such disintegra- 
tion, if they are allowed to become entirely dry before the application of such 
means. The undecomposed gluteu is so unyielding in its nature that, if not 
partially wet, the separation will inevitably be attended with so much breakage 
of the fibres as to materially injure the stock. But if they are slightly moist, 
they readily slide apart into ultimate lengths through the agency of properly 
constructed pickers that will blow them into a dry atmosphere. It is also just 
as important, as we have shown, that flax-cotton obtained through chemical dis- 
integration should be prepared exclusively from unretted stock. Some persons 
say that the filaments of unretted stock are more brittle than those from retted 
stock, and therefore more liable to abrasion in the preliminary mechanical opera- 
tions of cottonizing. This, if true, would be incomparably less injurious to the 
fibre than over-retting, a fault of every-day occurrence in retted straw. Un- 
retted stock will endure soaking, boiling, and steaming without injury, Avhile 
retted, if over-retted, will be easily decomposed ; and if it is not over-retted, 
and is not injured in passing through these operations, the cost of bleaching it, 
either before or after it is manufactured, will be much greater (besides being 
attended with more danger of injury) than the cost of bleaching unretted stock. 
Hence we recommend the discontinuance of further experiments on retted stock 
for flax-cotton intended for the manufacture of goods, for bleaching or printing, 
or goods that require the element of durability. We also recommend the post- 
ponement of bleaching unretted flax-cotton until it is manufactured into fabrics. 
Specimens of bleached and unbleached flax-cotton, hemp-cotton, asclepias 
cotton, and China-grass cotton, have been sent by divers persons to the com- 
mission, some of them very nicely disintegrated ; but three only of all the con- 
ti'ibutors who have responded to our call have accompanied their specimens 
with any explanation of the mode of cotionizing, viz: Mr. H. McFarlane, of 
Rocky llill. New Jersey, who uses the Claussen process; Mr. Hugh Burgess, 
of Royer's Ford, Pennsylvania, and Messrs. Fuller & Upham, of Claremont, 
New Hampshire. Mr. Burgess has not experimented so extensively as the 
latter gentlemen, but the specimens of both are well disintegrated and separated, 
or cottonized. The contributions of Mr. Burgess were cottonized from flax of 
unretted, tangled straw dressed on Mallory & Sanford's 12-ri,ller brake, in the 
presence of two of the commission, and also from flax of retted straw dressed 
and cleaned in his neighborhood. His process for short stock consists, after 
further cleaning by a suitable mechanical apparatus, in submitting it to the 
action of soda ash (or its equivalent in potash) in caustic solution, for an hour, 
in an iron boiler, (Keen's patent boiler preferred,) at a temperature of about 
280° Fahrenheit, the boiler to be heated in any convenient manner, and the 
mass of flax to be kept under the solution while boiling. The quantity of alkali 
used is from one-quarter to three-quarters of a pound of dry soda ash to one 
pound of flax, according to the condition of the latter. After boiling, the mass 
is blown through the manhole under pressure into a tank, and then the solution 
is drained ofi', evaporated, and burned for repeated use. About eighty per cent. 
of the alkali is saved. The stock, after draining, is washed with hot water until 
all traces of the alkali disappear. It is then bleached by the use of bleaching 
liquid percolated through the mass, after which it is washed, squeezed, and 
dried. If long stock is used, it is formed into hanks and put into wire cylinders. 



58 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

whicli are then placed iu the boiler, and, when boiled sufficiently in the solution, 
the latter is gradua'.ly drawn through an opening in the bottom of the boiler, 
and evaporated and burned as before. The hanks iu the cylinders, on being 
taken from the boiler, are washed, bleached, and dried. After drying, both 
kinds of stock are to be separated by machinery. lie has not yet constructed 
machinery (except models) for reducing the disintegrated fibres or cells to uni- 
formity of length, or for separating tbem longitud wally, but is expeiimentin°' 
in that direction, and expects soon to accomplish the desired result. His pro 
cess and producfwere patented in January, 1S64. 

The contributions of i\Iessrs. Fuller & Upham were also cottonized from un- 
rctted, (angled straw (which they much prefer to retted,) dressed by one pas- 
sage through Mallory & Sanford's brake. This brake, Fuller & Upham say, 
removes about ninety per cent, of the shives. These gentlemen, instead of de- 
pending on flax-disintegraling, shortening, and cleaning jnachinery located in 
flax-growing districts, take the stock from the brake and pass it through a shive- 
cleaniiig machine of their own invention, which consists of a series of card 
cylinders placed in a frame over each other. The stock is led upon an apron 
at the bottom, and is carried from the first cylinder to the others successively 
to the top, where it is delivered from the machine. These cylinders act upon 
each other as workers and strippers. They are in a screen of zinc placed 
■within three-sixteenths of an inch of the card teeth, having apertures for the 
discharge of the remaining shives and dirt by the centrifugal force of the cylin- 
ders. The latter are all enclosed in a case reaching below the cylinders that 
receives the waste, which is removed at the bottom, llie stock is then placed 
in a vat with water kept at 90° Fahrenheit for twenty-four hours. The water 
is then drawn through a grate bottom, and the vat is again filled with water 
containing one barrel of soap to one thousand pounds of dry fibre, and boiled 
twelve hours by steam at 212° Fahrenheit, when the water is again drawn as 
before, and pure water is percolated through the mass the remaining twelve 
hours. There are two of these vats, that the soaking may be done one day, 
and the boiling and washing the next, in the same vat, without removing the 
flax until it is ready for the steaming process. The stock is next transferred 
in rail cars from the vat to a horizontal iron cylinder having an adjustable head 
and a perforated movable piston operated by a screw and gears. It also has a 
large escape-valve at the rear head near the top, and is supplied with steam 
from a boiler through pipes. It likewise has a pipe to draw ofi' the water and 
extractive matter. I'he flax being placed in the cylinder, and the head screwed 
on, steam at ninety pounds pressure is let on for twenty minutes, when the per- 
forated piston is run towards the head of the boiler, squeezing the stock into a 
compact "cheese." The water-pipe is then opened, and the water with the 
glutinous matter in solution, that has been pressed through the perforated piston, 
is blown off. The pipe is then closed, the piston is drawn back, and the escape- 
valve opened, which permits the steam to escape through the apertures in the 
piston, and out of the cylinder. Instantly this valve is opened, the steam in 
th(! fibres expands, overcoming the cohesion of the softened intercellulose, and 
filling the cylinder with disintegrated ultimate fibre or cells of the fiax. The 
explosion is recommended to be only sutiiciently powerful to disrupt the fibres 
and leave them measurably in parallel lines ; for if they are entirely separated, 
many of them would be broken, and become, like immature cotton, too short to 
be profitably spun into yarn. The fibre is then taken from the cylinder, and, 
when partiiilly cooled, is passed through a compound wringer, consisting of a 
cylinder eighteen inches in diameter and twelve inches in length, having several 
rubber rolls that revolve, with the flax passing between them and the cylinder. 
In connexion with the wringer there is a serit's of differently speeded drawing 
rolls that passes the stock b(;tweeu them, drawing it into a thin sheet to facilitate 
drying and to equalize the lengths of the filaments and fibres. The stock is then 



SUBSTfTUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 59 

put into a box witli a grate bottom, under which is a coil of heated steam-pipes. 
A rotary fan forces the air into the bottom under the pipes, and through the 
flax, thereby rapidly removing the moisture. When it is sufficiently dried by 
this arrangement to allow the fibres to slide apart without sticking to each 
other, it is passed through an opener which consists of a horizontal cylinder 
covered with needle-pointed card clothing, with workers covered in the same 
manner, and placed under the main cylinder, which makes about one thousand 
and four hundred revolutions a minute, and throws the stock into an adjoining 
room. The flax is then carried through ordinary gambril cards, and taken off 
by a railhead with large and strong-corrugated iron rolls, held together by rub- 
ber springs, to pull apart any remaining long filaments. It is then passed 
through a lapper and a fine gambril card, and baled for the market. The mode 
of preparing this stock, the steaming cylinder, and a considerable portion of 
the machinery used, are patented, and the entire apparatus is built by the 
patentees and their partner, Mr. Rice, at Claremont. The price of the ap- 
paratus (at present cost of labor and materials) for one thousand pounds of 
fibre per day is about fifteen thousand dollars. Parties who may desire to em- 
bark in the manufacture of linen goods from stock prepared imder the patents 
of these gentlemen would probably do better, in the beginning, to buy their 
stock from the owners of disintegrating works. 

There is a difference of opinion among those who have made microscopic ex- 
aminations of the texture of flax fibres as to their composition. While all agree 
that they are cellular, and have transverse lines at variable distances, some 
think the lines are pores through which the interior moisture is evaporated in 
drying, and that the cellulose structure differs sufficiently from the structure of 
the intercellulose to allow the decomposition of the latter without injury to the 
former ; others that the transverse lines indicate the growth of the cells, like 
cane joints ; and that the composition of the cells is so nearly akin to the com- 
position of the intercellulose, that both cannot be more than partially decom- 
posed without so materially impairing the strength of the former at the marks, 
and intermediately, as to render ihem too weak for manufacturing. It is evident 
to us that the union of the cellular and intercellular matter is so thorough that 
while the former may be relieved from the tenacious hold of the latter, there 
should always be left enough of the intercellulose adhering to the cellulose after 
disintegration to keep the cells together until they are separated, if in a moist 
state, by sliding them apart through the intervention of pulling rollers ; or if in 
a dry state, by the application of a picker to break them apart. The proba- 
bility is that if the decomposition of the intercellulose is complete, or nearly so, 
the fibre would be much injured if not destroyed. Hence the absolute neces- 
sity, in cottonizing, of using unretted flax, Avhich always has fibre reliable for 
strength in any high steam process of disintegration if properly prepared. 

The opinion of the commission has often been asked upon the relative dura- 
bility of goods made of long-line flax, or flax-cotton, and the relative strength 
of goods made of the latter to goods made of cotton. From such examination 
as we have been able to give the inquiry, we think that goods made from sound, 
long-line stock, when new, will be stronger than those made of well-prepared 
flax-cotton, in consequence of the excess of glutinous or intercellular matter in 
long-line yarns ; but that as flax-cotton goods will be softer and less liable to 
crack when new than goods of long-line, while each ultimate fibre will be as 
strong, there is every reason to believe that they will be more durable, besides 
having the advantage of flowing more gracefully when made into garment's ; 
and as the fibres of flax-cotton are much stronger than the fibres of cotton, and 
much more soft and silky, fabrics made from them must not only be stronger 
when new, but more reliable for service than cotton goods. 

In addition to the probable greater durability of flax-cotton fabrics over those 
made of cotton, is the important fact of their superior ability to receive and hold 



60 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

colors. This is Supposed to be caused by the difference in the shape of the fibre 
of the two plants. We have remarked that both are tubular ; but the wall of 
a flax fibro being thick, its tubular form is permanertly preserved, while the 
wall of cotton fibre being thin, its tubular form in drying becomes flat spirally, 
like a twisted ribbon ; conse(|uently it presents only a flattened surface to receive 
and retain color ; and hence it is always less brilliant, even when first dyed, 
than a flax fibre, the tube of -which excludes the air, and by its' ti'ansparency 
reflects the color strongly, while its closed condition shields the color from the 
fading influence of the atmosphere. 

The flax-cotton of Messrs. Fuller & Upham has been spun on cotton 
machinery into about No. 24, (cotton gauge,) and also woven in the form of 
weft into print-cloth. To spin it successfully it will be necessary to alter the 
lapper and cards in the manner indicated for coarse yarns, and to reduce the 
number;, nd diaught of the drawing heads. One head with a draught of one inch 
into four inches will probably answer between the rail head and speeders. The 
middle top rolls of the rail and drawing heads and speeders must be relieved 
of a portion of their weights. The middle top rolls of the spinning frames must 
be wholly relieved of their weights, which can be done by substituting single 
saddles from the front top to the back top rolls for the double saddles generally 
used, unless the back top rolls are of smooth iron about one and a half inch 
in diameter, in which case the front rolls may be weighted with a hook and 
lever weights, and the back rolls be left without weights. 

The preparation of flax-cotton is not yet sufficiently developed to enable ua 
to predict decidedly its ultimate success. If more time be given this commission, 
or a new one for further investigation, greater progress will undoubtedly be 
made in the present year than has been accomplished during the entire period 
that has been given to the subject. The commission have specimens of unretted 
flax-cotton recently made by Messrs. Fuller «fc Upham, and also specimens of 
yarn made from this stock, and specimens in combination with cotton to the 
extent of twenty-five to fifty per cent, of the latter, together with the specimens 
of print-cloth previously referred to, in which the filling is of flax-cotton, all 
giving promise of early success. 

Under every aspect of the subject, we believe it will be safe to alter one or 
more fine cotton mills (that are now idle) to give this stock a trial if the same 
can be purchased at encouraging prices ; at first mixed with thirty-thr.je per 
cent, of cotton, and if successful, to gradually reduce the percentage of cotton 
until by continued success they may be enabled to withdraw entirely the ad- 
mixture and thereby demonstrate to the country the practicability of spinning 
fine flax-cotton yarn on cotton machinery. 

The encouraging reports from those who have used machine-broken and dis- 
integrated flax-cotton as a substitute for an admixture of cotton in coarse woollen 
goods, relieve the commission from the necessity of elaborating this branch of 
the subject. As an admixture in fine woollen goods in the form of chemically 
disintegrated fibre, there are at present no sati.-factory results. The failure to 
obtain such results in this direction is probably owing more to the want, of a 
supply of good material and to the general unwillingness of mauufiicturers of 
fine woollens to mix even cotton with wool, than to any intrinsic want of adapt- 
ability of ilax-cotton for admixture. On the contrary, the peculiar affinity of 
flax lor c lor, (it being equal to wool in this respect,) and its indisposition to 
excessive fulling, would seem to make it a much more desirable admixture for 
fine colored woollen goods than cotton. And it is not unreasonable to expect 
that when there is a sufficiency of supply of well disintegrated and separated 
refined flax-cotton, that it will be extensively sold for this purpose. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 61 



PECULIARITIES OF FIBRES. 

When we examine minutely the construction of the several materials which 
are so useful in the arts as textile products, we shall be astonished to find that 
there is a great diversity in their characters, and we are admonished carefully 
to examine and consider these peculiarities, lest we may be induced to recommend 
certain articles for applications in the arts for which they are not by nature 
adapted. 

All fibrous substances are composed either of cells or of cell bundles which 
constitute filaments and fibrils. There are three several classes of cells that 
may be usefully applied in the preparation of textile fabrics : first, the endoge- 
nous cells, and the filaments formed by their union ; second, the exogenous or 
the true bast cells, which also combine together in nature to form fibrils and 
filaments ; thirdly, the capsular cells, which, whether simple or branched, are 
still simple cells, each being naturally isolated from its fellows, and generally 
found as haire, more or less intimately connected with the seeds of the plants 
which furnish them. Prominent among these is that wonderfully useful and 
admirable fibre known as cotton-wool, for an analysis of which the reader is re- 
ferred to articles in the agricultural portion of the United States Patent Office 
reports for the years 1852 and 1853, prepared by Dr. George 0. Schaefi"er, and 
in which the writer has given the results of his patient and extended microscopic 
investigations of these fibres. In this class we also find a large number of what 
are called vegetable silks that are not at all equally well adapted to economic 
application in the arts, but which are constantly thrust forward as presenting 
claims for usefulness, that are at once dissipated by a knowledge of their inti- 
mate structure. Though of good and even length, and though soft and silky in 
their appearance, these cells, which sometimes have an incrusting matter, are too 
even and smooth upon their surfaces to be po:?sessed of good spinning properties 
Of this class are the silk weed, thistle down, cotton-wood down, and the epilobium 

Endogenous plants are so called from the manner of their growth. In- 
stead of depositing annually concentric layers of woody matter, like our com- 
mon timber trees, these plants are inside-growers, and the new cells are inter- 
posited among those previously formed, so that a cross section of the trunk 
presents a multitude of dots, but no regular concentric lines and circles like 
common wood. These are the ends of the filaments or cell bundles, among 
which all new formations have to be introduced instead of being laid on outside 
as with the other clas§ of vegetation. On this account the wood of such trees 
may eventually become very hard, and the cells wili be much compressed ; but 
these filaments are not in so good a condition for textile purposes as the newly 
formed cell bundles found in the foliacious expansions, and in the leaf stalks of 
these plants, which parts, indeed, are the fertile sources of supply of this class 
of fibre. As a general rule, these bundles of cells, being often of great length 
and strength, are especially adapted to the preparation of ropes and cordage, or 
other coarse fabrics, but, if properly subdivided, some of them also furnish 
material for the most exquisitely fine tissues. 

When we recollect that all the grasses belong to this great class of endogens 
we need not be surprised to learn that these strong fibres may be used 
without first being twisted into threads. All are familiar with the East India 
matting as a summer carpet for our floors; some have seen our native Indians 
weave strong mats with the rushes of the northern lakes, and the use of straw ; 
and the strips of palmetto leaves in the manufacture of hats are familiar to every 
one ; none of these are twisted. Bat few hasre observed that some very beautiful 
tissues, made in the East Indies are composed of filaments that were separated 
from the plants just as they present themselves to us, and that these threads 
have never been twisted. In some cases, as is very apparent in the coarser 



62 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

tissue of the matting, the ends of the filaments have been tied together deftly 
so as to make a continuous woof for the weaver; in others, the ends have been 
brought together and agglutinated by using some adhesive substance that unites 
them into a continuous thread. The celebrated piiia is of this character, and is 
composed of the fibres of the leaves of the wild pineapple, which is a native of 
our continent, and to be mentioned on another page. 

Tlie valuable fibres of all this class of plants are associated with other cells, 
particularly the pith cells interspersed between them, which must be separated 
and removed. This process in the hands of the native workmen is often a very 
simple matter, and is effected by beating, scraping, and washing, but it is slow 
and tedious, and as these are nitrogenous matters intimately associated with the 
fibres, a degree of fermentation may easily be set up to assist in the disintegra- 
tion. In a hot climate it is necessary to guard this process very carefully to 
prevent the destruction of the valuable fibre. 

In the other class of plants we find quite a different arrangement of the long 
fibres. In the exogens, or outside growers, the firm woody matter, which is 
composed of short and stiffer or firmer cells, is formed by the deposit of con- 
centric layers which are successively placed upon the outside of those already 
formed. The bark of these plants, on. the contrary, is composed of concentric 
layers also, but the last formed is deposited within its predecessors. Here we 
find the true bast cells, which are arranged in filaments that unite to form flat- 
tened ribbons of great strength, and, in many cases, of considerable length. 
They are very pliant, having very little ligneous matter in their composition, 
and they form the most valuable vegetable fibres of northern temperate regions. 
Many of the most remarkable fibres of this class, however, are of tropical origin. 
The most valuable plants of this class, and those from which these bast fibres 
are most readily separated, are the annuals, because in them the woody matter 
is easily disposed of, and is thrown off from the fibre instead of our being obliged, 
as in the case of large trees, to peel the bark off from the woody matter. Flax 
and hemp are familiar illustrations of this, and their great value consists in the 
length, strength, and beauty of their fibres, which are associated with a very 
imperfectly developed woody tissue that is easily separated from them. There 
are many other plants, however, which have herbaceous stems that are as easily 
managed, and these will be mentioned in their appropriate place. 

The ultimate cells of this class of. fibres are found to vary in their lengths in 
different plants, and probably in different parts of the same plant ; they are col- 
lected in bundles which are intimately connected with each other by intercellular 
matter, and by pith cells ; similar foreign matters are associated with these fibrils 
and filaments, uniting them to one another, and this fixct is one of the diflficulties 
that attends their preparation. The ultimate cells are stated to be one twenty- 
five hundredths of an inch in diameter, and their length is variable. They have 
transverse markings, which are supposed to be pores, and these are somewhat 
spiral in their arrangement ; still, the cells, like the fibrils, are nearly straight, 
and tapering towards the ends. Though often somewhat compressed and angular, 
they are entirely different from the cell of cotton, which, though originally cyl- 
indrical, with thin walls, on desiccation, becomes flattened irregularly. This 
gives it the character of a spirally twisted ribbon. Some of the cells are said 
to resemble a screw with several twists, and this form explains the remarkable 
spinning properties of this fibre.* 

Dr. Ure very clearly sets forth the differences in the structure of textile fibres 
of cotton, silk, wool, flax, and hemp, and showed that, while the first three con- 
sisted of definite and entire filaments, not separable without decomposition, the 
latter were compound, and that they were further divisible after treatment with 

*For very rlear views upon tlie constitution of fibres, the reader is rofencd to Dr. Ure's 
Philosophy of Mauufuctuies, p. bl and seq. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 63 

alkaline solutions. He brought the microscope to his aid in this investigation, 
and was, perhaps, the first who demonstrated the structure of these substances 
satisfactorily, though he refers to the labors of others. He procured a fine 
instrument in Paris in 1833, made by Oberhauser, with which he made his ex- 
aminations of flax and cotton and wool fibres, which he illustrated with engravings 
of the microscopic views ; some of these have been reproduced as appropriate to 
this report, and giving very correct representations of the objects. 

From what has been shown with regard to the peculiarities of the constitu- 
tion and intimate structure of difierent fibres, as revealed by the microscope, it 
will be manifest that, how closely soever we may seem to have made the fibres 
of flax resemble those of cotton, there is still a radical difference between them ; 
that, though these substances appear to be similar, they are structurally dif- 
ferent. While the cell of a cotton fibre was originally a tubular sac when filled 
with moisture, upon desiccation, in the process of ripening, it becomes a spirally 
flattened tube with a certain amount of twist. It has a tendency, from its 
form, to unite with its fellows, and, when so combined and subjected to the 
moderate draught of the spinning machinery, it is constantly inclined to couple 
itself to them in unison, or in accord with the processes to which it is sub- 
jected. On the other hand, when we separate the long filament of flax, by any 
means in our power, into its ultimate, or nearly into its iiltimate fibres, or 
into its original cells, we find these to be straight, without twist, or any means 
of making them adhere to one another. Moreover, the very walls of these cells, 
though similar in their ultimate elements, both being nearly pure cellulose, are 
very difi"erently constituted. While the cell walls of a cotton fibre are of nearly 
uniform thickness, and, indeed, are quite thin, those of a cell of flax are of con- 
siderable thickness, and are formed by concentric layers deposited within the 
original sac. The result is, that while the cavity of the cell of cotton is rela- 
tively large, allowing it to flatten in drying, that of the flax is small, and the 
cell retains its plumpness and rigidity, and is only modified from its original 
round form by pressure against its fellows, which makes it somewhat angular 
and irregular on its edges. This thickening of the walls makes this fibre more 
rigid and hss pliable, as well as more heavy, and this also accounts for the 
gi-eater specific gravity and the higher conducting power of flax than of cotton. 
The latter property, so characteristic of flaxen tissues, will ever prove an ob- 
jection to this material for wearing apparel with some delicately constituted 
persons, while, on the other hand, the coolness and cleanliness of these tissues, 
which are proverbial, commend them especially to others. The greater specific 
gravity of flax should be taken into the account in all calculations respecting 
its manufacture, to avoid errors in estimates of the cost of the materials. 

Dr. Ure has bestowed great care in ascertaining the specific gravity of these 
substances, and the results of his researches are somewhat surprising. His 
process is very philosophical and simple, so that his data are probably very 
reliable, in view of the excellent precautions he has adopted to obviate the 
errors that would arise from the presence of air. After using great care, and 
proving his results by trial and corrections, he gives the following figures: 
Wool, 1.26; cotton, 1.47 to 1.50; linen, 1.50; silk, 1.30; mummy cloth, 1.50. 
Remarking upon these weights, he says : "As a bale of linen goods is heavier 
than a bale of cotton goods of the same size, it might be supposed that flax is 
a denser substance than cotton; but it should be considered that cotton is more 
elastic, and, therefore, less compact under similar pressure. It is only by weighing 
each matter, under immersion in a liquid, that its true density can be learned." 
He considers the density of cotton and linen the same, and suggests that silk 
and wool may also be equal, and that the vegetable fibres have equal density, 
and thinks that the. timber fibres will be proved to have a density similar to 
that of flax; for he suggests that the porosity of wood causes a fallacious esti- 
mate to be made of the density of its substance. 



64 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Tlie great impetus which has of late years been given to attempts to reduce 
flax to a condition simihir to cotton, and the extended notoriety of the sug- 
gestions to cottonize flax, has induced many persons to think that this is a new 
idea, one of the characteristic events of the wonderful era of progress and in- 
vention in which we live. That the idea of cottonizing flax is not new, but 
that is has long occupied the human mind, will iippear by referring to the history 
of the subject, as has been done by the very learned and intelligent jury of the 
great international exhibition of Ureat Britain, who give the following account, 
from which it will appear that nearly a century and a quarter ago it was pro- 
posed to convert flax into cotton by boiling in alkaline solutions. From what- 
ever causeS; all theisc various processes appear to have failed in the objects they 
attempted to subserve. 

The statements with regard to the splitting and bursting of the ultimate 
cells, as claimed by Claussen, are not verified by microscopic investigations of 
the specimens presented to us. 

The subjoined quotation is from the report of the jury at the international 
exhibition of Great Britain in 1851. An extract from the report of a later jury 
will also be introduced to show our progress in the arts during the intervening 
decade : 

" Among the continental nations of Europe the northern have long been celebrated for the 
production of flax and its manufactures, Flanders being especially distinguished for the 
beauty of its fine goods, and Russia and Germany for the strength and durability of their 
heavy and other linens. 

" It is a remarkable fact that so long as hand-spinning was the only known way of pro- 
ducing yarn, Great Britain and Ireland were not much noted for their manufacture of linens. 
The Avondcrful change, however, wrought by the invention of the "spinning jenny," and 
,Hs application to cotton machinery, speedily led to the development of the same principle iu 
making mill-spun yarn from flax and hemp. A numerous series of specimens were contrib- 
uted by P. Claussen in illustration of liis patent process of making flax-cotton. This pro- 
cess (patented August, 185U) consists essentially iu boiling the cut and crushed stems of the 
flax, hemp, or other plant, in a dilute solution of caustic soda, containing about one two- 
thousandth part of alkali. The fibrous matter is then removed and plunged into a bath of 
dilute sulphuric acid, containing one flvc-hundredtli part of acid, in which it is boiled for 
about an hour. It is next transferred into a soluti(m containing about ten per cent, of car- 
bonate of soda ; and lastly, when it has remained iu the latter for an hour, it is plunged into 
a weak solution of sulphuric acid, consisting of one part of acid to two hundred or five hun- 
dred parts of water. In this it is left for about half an hour, and the process is completed. 
The eticct of these several processes is to divide and split up the fibre in a most remarkable 
manner, so as completely to alter its character. Flax thus treated is converted into a sub- 
stance very nearly resembling cotton. It is probable that flax-cotton can be advantageously 
used in the manutiicture of mixed fabrics, as it appears capable ol' being spun with wool, 
silk, and other fibres. It may, therefore, perhaps, hereafter lead to several new and impor- 
tant practical applications. I'or this ingenious process the jury awarded a prize medal. 

"The idea of modifying the fibre of flax and hemp, so as to convert it into a kind of cotton, 
is by no means new. In 1747 Lilljikreuzes and Palmquist described a mode of converting 
flax into 'cotton' by boiling it for some time in a solution of caustic potash, and subsequently 
washing it Avith soap. In 1775 considerable quantities of refuse flax and hemp were con- 
verted into ' flax-cotton' by Lady Moira, with the aid of T. B. Bailey, of Hope, near Man 
Chester. The lull details of the process employed do not appear to have been published , 
but from Lady Moira's letters iu the Transactions of the Society of Arts for 1775, it appears 
that the fibre was boiled iu an alkaline lye, or a solution of kelp containing carbonate ol 
soda, and subsequently scoured. The result of this was that ' the fibres seem to be set at 
liberty from each other,' after which it may be 'carded on cotton cards.' It appears that at 
this" time flax-cotton was made and sold at threepence a pound, and Lady iluira states that 
she believes that it takes colors better than flax. It is cmious to observe the fate of Lady 
Moira's scheme. Slio says: 'I have no reason to be vain of the samples I have sent you, 
they merely show that the material of flax-^-^tton, in able hands, will bear mauuiacturing, 
though it is my ill fortune to have it discredited by the artisans who work for me. I had in 
Dublin, witii great difHculty, a gown woven for myself, and three waistcoats; but had not 
the person who employed a weavi;r for me particularly wished to oblige me, 1 could not have 
got it accomi)lislK(l ; and the getting spun of an ounce of this cotton in Dublin I found im- 
practicable, and tiie absurd alarm tiiat it might injtuv the trade of foreign cotton liad gained 
ground, and the si)inners, lor what reason 1 cannot comjirehend, declared theursclves such 
bitter enemies to my scheme that they woidd not .spin for me. Such is my lare that what 
between party iu the metropolis aud iutloleuce iu this place, (Ballyuahyuch,) I am not capa- 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 65 

ble of doin^ my scheme justice. That it should ever injure the trade of foreign cotton is im- 
possible.' -Lady Moira states that the flax-cotton gowns which she had had made, and which 
were worn by the members of her own family, were exceedingly durable, and the specimens 
of these fibres, as well as of the fiax-cotton prepared by her, which are still preserved iu the 
Museum of the Society of Arts, and are highly remarkable for their beauty. 

" Subsequeutly to this several attempts were made iu Germany to convert flax into a fibre 
resembling cotton, which could be used, either alone or together, with cotton in the manufac- 
ture of cotton goods. In 1777 Baron Meidinger proposed to convert flax into a sort of cotton 
by the action of alkaline solutions, &c. In 1780 a factory was established at Berchtolds- 
dorf, near Vienna, for the practical working of this process ; and similar plans were subse- 
queutly brought forward by Kreutzer in 18U1, by Stadler & Haupfner iu 1811, by Sokou iu 
1816, and by several others. 

"At the factory at Berchtoldsdorf not only was flax converted into cotton, but likewise a 
useful cotton-like fibre was prepared from tow and refuse flax, and the same is said to hare 
been done by Hoag near Pressburg in 1788, by Gobell iu 1803, aud Segalla in 181 J . Whether 
these various plans failed from tlie eftec'ts of jealousy and opposition, like that which pre- 
vented Lady Moira from introducing her flax cotton, is imknown ; but it does not appear 
that any of them were long persevered in." 

In one of those excellent lectures which grew out of the international exhibi- 
tion, Mr. Solly is reported to have said, " I must confess that I am not at all 
sanguine as to the benefits to be derived from this proposal, though I think it 
by no means impossible that it may hereafter lead to valuable and important 
improvements."* 

The commission, though previously somewhat discouraged by the exhibition 
of many unpromising attempts to cottonize flax, now feel that they are upon the 
eve of realizing the valuable and important improvements suggested by this 
distinguished savan. 

So far from flax-cotton being a new article, or prepared by a new process, 
Dr. Schseffer states, in his excellent article on vegetable fibre,f that a similar 
method has been used by the Chinese for centuries. 

The method of preparing this substance, as patented by Olaussen, has already 
been given ; but we find many specimens that appear to have been prepared by 
other processes, and their exhibitors pretend to have secret methods whicli they 
are unwilling to divulge, or claim that they have patent processes for their 
modes of preparation. Many of these specimens are entirely worthless, aud 
several of tliem have been ruined by the misuse of chemical substances. The 
expense attending some of the modes of preparation is a seiious objection to 
them; those in which cutting the fibre is a part of the process it is apprehended 
will produce undue waste in spinning, and in all we find a want of such a per- 
fect disintegration as to yield an approximate uniformity of length and thick- 
ness of the fibres. The most promising specimens are those which were pre- 
pared by hot alkaline solutions, and the bundles of cells mechanically separated 
from one another afterwards while still moist. These will be noticed in the 
chapter on manufactures. 

The London jury at the international exhibition of 1862 do not appear to 
be even so favorably impressed, when they sjjeak of the "empirical method 
which, in 1851, led a majority of the jury to award a medal to Chevalier 
Claussen, but which, after eleven years, is just where it was at that time — in 
the limbo of impracticable ideas. The so-called flax-cotton has been shown as 
a curiosity by its inventor, but every attempt to employ it practically has proved 
a failure. Flax still insists upon being treated as flax, and hemp as hemp, and 
nothing succeeds so well in the disintegration of the fibres as water-retting." 

This sweeping clause we are not prepared to adopt at the present stage of 
our investigations, and with the very promising developments opening before 
us, as exhibited in the specimens presented by Mr. IE. Burgess, of Royer's 
Ford, Pennsylvania, and by Mr. James B. Fuller, formerly of Claremont, New 

* Lectures at the World's Fair, 1850 : Professor Edw. Solly. 

t United States Patent Office report for ISu'J, to which the reader is referred for much iu- 
teroeting detail. 

Ex. Doc. 35 5 



C)6 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Hampshire, but now engaged in putting his discoveries into practice at Nor- 
Avicli, Connecticut, avc are led to anticipate the happiest results. 

We have supposed that it was our duty to examine how far and in what 
way flax and hemp could be used as a substitute for cotton. This question hae 
been pretty thoroughly investigated by the commission; its answer may already 
have been gathered from what has ])receded, and the public may have drawn 
conclusions from the statements which have been made as to the radical difier- 
ences between these fibres, that they can never really be substituted, because 
they are so dissimilar. And yet we should do wrong were we not to point out 
some of the many uses to which these fibres may be and have been applied to 
take the place which cotton has hitherto occupied. 

As cordage and for twines, to which, in the cheaper days of cotton, that sub- 
stance was extensively applied, hemp and flax still assume their pre-eminence 
and superiority. Even to the grocer's twine, which must be short and easily 
broken, these fibres have been extensively and profitably applied. Every 
variety of twine is now made of flax and tow in several establishments. Thread 
of the best quality for many purposes is also prepared from this material, and 
for some branches of the arts it has always been deemed superior to cotton. 
Coarse linen fabrics of every description, from bagging down through burlaps, 
crash, duck, diaper, &c., have all been successfully made of flax and hemp, 
where formerly the greater cheapness of cotton had caused that fibre to supplant 
its legitimate competitor. In the article of seamless grain-bags, which were 
formerly made altogether from cotton, we now have a much better article pro- 
duced from flax. The nicely prepared battings of flax, whether bleached or 
unbleached, have taken the place, to a great degree, of the application formerly 
made of the dirty and refuse cotton for this purpose ; but the greater weight of 
the flaxen material depreciates its value and usefulness when to be applied in 
this way, for a given number of pounds of flax batting will cover a space but 
half as large as an equal quantity of carded cotton. 

It would not be consistent with the limits of this report to take up the dis- 
cussion of the whole subject of })aper-making, although its main feature depends 
upon the value of these very fibres we have been examining. As in its pro- . 
duction, however, flaxen and hempen fibres may very advantageously be sub- 
stituted for those of cotton, we may be pardoned for making some allusions to 
this matter. As before intimated, all of these several fibrous substances are 
composed of nearly pure cellulose, and thus, in their ultimate composition they 
are very much alike. It further appears that whatever materials be used for 
paper-making, their value will depend upon the amount of this proximate prin- 
ciple of cellulose which they contain, and whether the stock consist of solid 
wood, hollow straw, fresh fibre of bast cells from our flax fields, waste cotton 
from the factories, or worn-out clothing and old ropes, made from these different 
fibres, their value in every case depends upon the amount of pure cellulose 
Avhich can be derived from them. The cellulose from the several sources 
appears to exist in nearly the same proportions, about fifty per cent., whether 
we take the wood or the straw for the raw material. 

The union of these fibrous substances in the tissue of paper depends upon a 
peculiar condition which has been imparted to them by the action of the paper- 
machine, so tearing and breaking the cells and fibrils, and fraying their ends as 
to give them a sort of felting property — quite different, it is true, from what is 
described as felting, in another part of this report, but still enabling the ends of 
the fragments to unite with one another so as to form a tissue of more or less 
consistency, according to the nature of the materials used. 

This will best be explained by an illustration taken from the Journal des 
Fabrieants de Papier, vol. I, p. ISO. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



67 



No. 2. 




View of a shred of paper, in 
which are beautifully exhibited 
the cylindrical fibrepof flax or 
hemp mingled with the ribbons 
of cotton fibre ; also the con- 
fused mass of ruptured fibres 
completely comminuted. This 
drawing shows the condition to 
which fibres are reduced by the 
rag-engine, and explains the 
peculiar felting upon which the 
constitution of paper depends. 

Besides the appropriation of 
considerable portions of the lint 
produced by our flax fields to the 
matuifacture of paper, which, 
indeed, appears to be rather .-i 
waste, when we consider that old 
clothing is just as good as new 
fibre, there are several other ap- 
plications of this material in the 
arts. 

Considerable quantities of rough tow, such as is cheaply prepared from the 
tangled and inferior flax straw of crops that have been grown expressly for 
seed, is used in the stuffing of furniture. 

But, it may be asked, when are we to have flax produced in such a condition 
and in such quantities as to be suitable to provide us with finer goods, like 
sheetings and shirtings and print-cloths 1 Even this we are about realizing, and 
we hope soon to be able to furnish some cloths of quite respectable fineness and 
finish, in which disintegrated flax fibres shall have been used either alone, or 
mingled with cotton. Though long discouraged by the failure of attempts to 
cottonize flax, on account of the injury done to the fibre, and the unsatisfactory 
results in attempting to reduce the long filaments to an average definite short- 
ness suitable for cotton machinery, we now look hopefully for much more satis- 
ftxctory products, as will appear in the appropriate place. The radical difficulties 
of the fibre remain in the less pliant and straighter cell, in the greater specific 
gravity, and consequently greater conducting power of the product ; but the 
spirmiug difficulties appear to be in a fair way of being overcome by American 
ingenuity. (See specimens in museum.) 

An application of flax as a substitute for cotton, which was little expected, 
presented itself in the formation of hard rolls for print-works and bleacheries. 
In the construction of these rollers it had been a desideratum to get a hard and 
elastic surface. This was first accomplished by disks of heavy paper closely 
applied to one another upon a shaft, firmly compressed and then turned into 
shape. Next cotton itself was used; but it is now found that flax fibre may be 
applied to this object with the most satisfactory results. 

One of the greatest claims which flax presents to our notice is its ability to 
replace cotton, and with great advantage, too, in all the cases where that sub- 
stance was formerly used in combination with wool in the production of mixed 
fabrics. Hempen and flaxen yarns are now resuming their original importance 
in the manuflicture of carpet*, both abne and when used as the M-arp only, of 
those useful tissues, in which cotton had entered as the leading article. 

In the reproduction of the good old-fashioned linseys we are reminded of 
the healthy days of our boyhood and the infancy of our manufactures, when 
homespun goods were not yet wholly banished from the former's wardrobe by 



G8 SU13STITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

tlie introduction of the more fliinscy cassinets from the power loom, which bore 
a deceptive iini^h, but did not furui.'rh tlie desired resistance to the wear and 
tear of boyhood, in the roiigli-aud-tuiiible plays of the school-house. The 
return to this substitution of ihix for cotton Avili be hailed with acclamation 
by the boys, and may be equally relished by their careful mothers. 

Kerseys and jeans are now produced of excellent quality, into the prepara- 
tion of which flax enters largely in combination with wool, and there is scarcely 
a " boy in blue" who does not bear upon his body, in his uniform, fibres of flax, 
while he carries also a blanket largely composed of this material combined 
with the warmer fleece of the sheep. 

There arc beautiful samples of cloths upon exhibition in the museum, into 
the composition of which a considerables portion of flax has been made to enter. 
In the knit goods before us, and one garment of which has been subjected to 
constant use for some months, we find a beautiful merino stuff, in M'hich the 
flax-cotton prepared by Mr. Fletcher, of Oswego, New York, has been used in 
combination wiih wool instead of the usual admixture of cotton. The service 
rendered by the garment in question has been in every way satisfactory and 
agreeable, and it appears to wear evenly and well, and has not been fulled up 
in the laundry. 

FELTING. 

There are on exhibition some very firm and well printed druggets, which 
have attracted great attention from visitors who have examined them. But we 
cannot advise any further experiments in the way of attempting to produce 
felted goods of mixed flaxen material, for it is manifest that the fibres of flax 
have no felting properties. To make this apparent it will be necessary to 
investigate the principles upon which felting depends, when we shall find that 
the necessary elements are not possessed by the smooth filaments of flax. 

This may best be done by quoting from the popular writer of a work entitled 
" Useful Arts employed in the Production of Clothing,'' in which we find the 
ibllowing observations that throw great light upon the subject : 

"If we hold a buiuan hair lirmly by the root and draw it gently between the thumb and 
fingers, it passes through smoothly and with hardly any resistance or iutuiruption; wliereas, 
it' we reverse the motion, holding the hair by the point, and draw it from point to root, a 
very s(-nsible tremulous resistance will be exprricnced, accompanied by a cracking sound. 
Again, if we place a hair loose between this finger and thumb, and then, by alternately bend- 
ing and extending them, give them a backward and forward movement, the hair will be put 
in motion, and lliis motion will always be from root to point, whether the root bi? in one or 
tlse other position with respect to the two rubbing surfaces. A fibre of wool, likewise, under 
similar circumstances, always moves in one direction. Every schoolboy knows that au ear 
of barley, if put within the sleeve at the wrist, soon travels up to the urm-pit; he also knows 
that he can only rub a single awn of barley in one direction between his finger and thumb — 
that is, from root to point. The; awn of barley is visibly jagged at the edge like a saw, the 
teeth pointing obliquely upwards, and this particular conformation is manifestly the reason 
why it is cajjable of motion in one direction, but not in the other. These facts lead to the 
expUmation of the cause of felting. 

"Wool is more crisped and spirally curled than hair; this may be seen by holding a small 
lock up to the light. This varies in the amount of the curl in the wool of ditferent sheep, 
and is most pereeptible in the tine wools. Thosc^ wiiich curl most are best adapted for feltiugs. 
This twist aids in that aiTangement ol" the fibres which enables them to unite thus together; 
it multiplies the opportunity for this interlacing, and increases the dilKculty of unravelling the 
felt ; but while assisting, it is not the principal agency concerned, which depends upon the 
ultimate stniiture of the paitieles. 

"I'Vlting was foimerly supposed to be owing to a- kind of attraction or cohesion between 
llie {il)res. Dr. Young thouglit the cloth contracted in felting, because the fibres were im- 
eipialiy b;mt in the pounding received Worn the fulling-hanmiers, and that those most bent 
v.'ere preventi'd IVom returning to their o.igiual length by their adhesion to their neighboring 
fibres. This, however, does not apply to the common iaistances of I'elting, as in hat-making 
and the wearing of a woollen sock, for here thetibios are rublxHl together and not beaten, as 
in fulling. Uefare Monge, the French philosopher, first discovered a satisfactory explana- 
liou-for this process, a Mr. Pliut suggested the follo\ving happy conjectures: 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



GO 



" 'Respcctmg the apjjlication of the microscope to the examiiiatiou of the fibre, I am de- 
oidedlj of the opinion that a careful and minute examination of wools difi'ering in tlieir 
felting proportions would i-esidt in the detection of some specific difference of structure. This 
property is altogether inexplicable, except in the supposition that the surface of the fibre is 
irregularly feathered, and thut. by conqnession, these feathered edges become entangled and 
locked together. These feathers must also ])oint in one dir<>ction, from the root to the extremity 
of the fibre, and if we suppose the feathered edge, or, more properly speaking, the individual 
tooth or feather, to be of a finer texture, it is evident that one tooth being ]jushed into anotlier 
would fasten like a wedge ; and if we further suppose that the tooth or feather has a barb, 
similar to that on a harpoon, the phenonema of felting are explained.' " 

How w-onclerfully these suggestions of ]\Ir. Plint have been veriiieel by the 
developments of science in the discoveries of the microscop > ; it has been found 
that w^ool has this very feathered or serrated structure. With an instrument 
of 300 linear power the filaments of wool show teeth resembling those of a 
fine saw, and different wools present different forms of serration, (See plate of 
wool magnified 200 times.) 

No. [i. — Specimens of different wools. (Dr. 
Ure.) 

a. Leicestershire. 

b. Finest Saxony. 

c. Finest Spanish. 
Dr. Ure tells us that, when viewed through 

a powerful microscope, the filaments of wool 
have something the appearance of a snake with 
the scales a little raised, so that the profile is 
serrated, the teeth being toward the point. 
Each fibre seems to be composed of serrated 
rings, imbricated over one another. These 
teeth and the intervening spaces differ in va- 
rious samples, and these transverse lines re- 
semble the rings of the earth-worm. This 
appearance has been compared to the effect of 
a series of thimbles with uneven edges inserted 
into each other. The existence of these serrated edges explains the reason why 
these substances may be felted, and it is known that in those which felt the 
best the serratures arc most distinct. 




DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES AND THE FIBRES WHICH THEY REPRESENT. 
No. 4. — SlLK,y/-ow an East India Inndkerchicf. 




The fibre of silk consists of a round or somewhat flattened, narrow, and struct- 
ureless substance of indefinite length, quite solid — that is, withotit any internal 
cavity, and without any visible markings. 

The original condition of these fibres, when first unwound from the cocoon, 
shows them in pairs, agglutinated by a secretion external to the fibre itself. 
The subsequent treatment separates these fibres more or less until they present 



'0 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



thi> nppt'anmce shown in tlie figure. Silk is wound o^' from tlie cocoon, and it3 
jiaralK'l fibres are afterward twisted. The broken fragments are carded, and 
llicn tspun ; the resulting fabric has quit.,- a difiercnt appearance from ordinary 
pilks. 

No. 5. — Wool, frcalrd iri/Ii ililutc sulphuric acid. 



^^tji^^^^ 




Wool, unhke silk, shows distinct structure, and is in fact made up of cells of 
two different kinds ; the one kind on the outside (as seen in one part of the 
figure) being broad and flattened, overlapping each other, with their free edges 
pointing to the top of the hair; the second kind (as seen in the other part of the 
drawing) is nearly round in outline, and forms the so-called " pith" of the hair 
or wool. 

The free ends of the external cells prevent the hairs from slipping past each 
other, and give the peculiar "felting" property to wool. 

No. G. — Vh.w, fio/ii a fine Irish linen. 




Flax, like all vegetable fibres, is made up, as ordinarily used, of several 
cells forming a filament. The figure represents the separated cells. 

The hore or internal cavity of the flax cell is not large; hence its greater 
strength as compared with cotton. The cross markings seen in the figure 
are not external, but are caused by " pores" passing from the inside of the cell 
to near the outside. These markings being internal, are not to be confounded 
with the serrated outline of wool, and do not give any hold of the cells upon 
each other. Their arrangement, however, has an efi'ect upon the isolated cell ; 
thus in the top one, shown in the figure, which is, however, a rather unusual 
form, there is to be noticed a greater flatness than in the others, together with a 
slight twist in the whole cell, which twist is mainly to be attributed to the 
obIii[ue direction of the " pores." 

The specimen represented in the drawing has been spun by hand. When 
flax is si)un by machinery there are always adhering substances derived from 
the remains of the short cells, which are removed by passing through the 
iuigers in hand spinning. When flax is perfectly cottonized the cells should 
exhibit the appearance shown in the figure, with a smooth and unbroken 
outline. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 
No. 7. — Hemp. 



71 




The figure represents the separated cells, which are somewhat like those of 
flax. Three of these cells are shown with forked ends, but this is by no means 
a constant character. The cross markings are shown as oblique in one cell, but 
even this is by no means uniformly found. In the specimens described in 
another place, it will be seen that while in llussian hemp the same obliquity is 
noticed, in American hemp the markings are almost exactly transverse. There 
are too few observations to show that this is a permanent and distinctive 
difference. All of tlicse figures represent the ohjects magnified two hundred 
times. 

No. 8. — COTTON. 




No. 8 represents portions of the separate cells of the cotton fibre as delineated 
in the beautiful di'awing of Riessig. The original tubular or cylindrical character 
of the line cell is lost, and in desiccating, the walls have collapsed upon one 
another irregularly, which gives the peculiar spiral character to the fibres. 
This varies in different specimens, some being nearly like ribbons, while others 
have a regular twist like a screw. 




No. 9 from Dr. Ure, best sea island cotton, of which lace and fine muslin arc 
made. Fibres one one-thousandth of an inch in diameter; tortuous semi- 
oyiinders of uniform size. 



iZ 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON 



No. 10. 




Religious cotton, of which fabrics are worn by the Bramins ; a very flimsy 
fibre. "(Dr. Ure.) 




Surat cotton, irregular ribbon form. (Dr. Ure. 

No, 12, 




Flax fibres as mounted in balsam, (Dr, Ure.) 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 73 

The commission is happy to be able to present the following results of a very 
careful microscopic examination of some of the preparations that have been pre- 
sented for their investigation. For this purpose the services of an expert mi- 
croscopist were secured, and he has rendered the following report upon the 
specimens submitted. The name of Professor G. C. Schseffer, who has been for 
many years engaged in similar examinations, is a sufficient guarantee of the 
value of his report upon these fibres. 

EXAjMINATION of specimens of fibre for the FLAX-COTTON COM- 
MISSION. 

In making this report, it must be stated that I have confined myself to the 
description of the specimens as presented, without pretending to say what might 
have been done to them to make them different from what they are. By the 
words " cottonized fibre" we denote that condition given to an originally long 
fibre which may render it capable of being used in the ordinary cotton machinery. 
In general it is claimed that, by the process of cotionizing, the compound fibre 
is reduced to its single cells which then resemble cotton in this respect, as it also 
consists of single cells of nearly uniform length. The idea sometimes put forth 
that the individual cells are themselves split by this process is utterly fallacious, 
as I have ascertained by repeated examinations for many years. 

The examination of these specimens, and of many others, has led me to sup- 
pose that persons, ignorant of the nature of the material employed, have fre- 
quently made their preparations under quite mistaken notions. It is known that 
cotton, to be profitably used, must have a certain length of cell or " staple," and 
one, too, of a reasonable degree of unifurmity. But the ultimate cells of most 
basts (bark fibres) are, in general, much shorter than those of cotton; so that, 
when cottonized, they are not long enough for use. In this state, when mixed 
with cotton, they fail to combine with it in the proper manner, and are partly 
lost and partly found with projecting ends, giving an irregular surface to the 
thread formed. It appears, then, that, finding the complete operation yields a 
material too short for use, the idea has arisen that by an incomplete cottonizing 
a longer staple could be obtained. The result is, of course, as various as the 
treatment, but the end is nearly the same. The long fibre is broken up into 
shorter portions which consist of an indefinite number of cells, and, since these 
are arranged so as to break joint, the length of the filament obtained will be very 
variable. Hence the apparent length of staple is gained at the expense of great 
irregularity, while the free ends of individual cells projecting from the filament 
will interfere with the manufacture. The entirely free cells which may be found 
among the long filaments will be mostly lost in the manufacture. The arrange- 
ment of the bundles of bast cells in the plant is such, that a treatment which is 
not carried too far will give mainly a separation into smaller bundles by longi- 
tudinal division, turning out a long and fine filament, admirably adapted for long 
staple spinning. This process has been used with great success for centuries. 
But if the treatment is carried somewhat further, the fine bundles are themselves 
broken up into individual cells and compound filaments of varying length. This 
material, when treated like cotton, must be carded, and then becomes only a finer 
sort of tow, and the fabric formed from it will be a more or less fine tow-cloth. 
This may, however, be made quite fine in texture, and suitable for various 
purposes. 

I do not intend speaking of the fitness of the cells of different plants for a 
process of manufacture similar to that used for cotton. I have enlarged upon 
this subject in an article in the Agi-icultural Report of the Patent Oflice for the 
year 1859, and generally the matter is so well understood that any repetition in 
this place would be useless. One thing, however, deserves notice, no matter 
how well the material may be fitted for cotton spinning, the fabric obtained will 



74 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

vary in character according to the strnctnre of the cells employed. The cells 
of cotton have thin wall.^, are very absorbent of moisture, poor conductors of 
heat, and, for a given surface and thickness, produce a fabric lighter than that of 
any other material hitherto used 

The cells of bast have thick walls and produce heavier fabrics, which are less 
absorbent, and are better conductors of heat than those obtained from cotton. 
In short, the cloth obtained from bast cells will always carry with it their pecu- 
liar character, and although manufactured as cotton, it will never be cotton-cloth. 
Of course there are many uses for Avhich such cloth might be well adapted, but, 
as worn in contact with the body, it could never replace cotton. 

Again, the action of colors upon cotton and bast fibres is quite different, and 
the treatment of colored goods from the different substances would be quite un- 
like. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the same results which are now so cheaply 
obtained from cotton could ever be produced from bast cell fabrics at an equal 
cost. 

I shall now give the description of the respective specimens as examined by 
me under the microscope. 

Each sample is denoted by a number which I have given for convenience of 
reference, and by the exact words placed upon the envelope as it came to me. 

No. 1. " Flax disintegrated, by H. Burgess." — The envelope contains two 
specimens — one bleached, the other unbleached. The fibres are of various 
lengths — appearing under the microscope to be mostly single cells — some quite 
long. One I found to be one and a quarter inch, with tapering ends. The cells 
have the usual character of flax. From the unequal lengths, I should be inclined 
to think that the cells of flax have no great uniformity in this respect. 

No. 2. '' Asclcpias cornuticottonized, hij WiUiums.'' — Imperfectly cottouized, 
and, of course, unequal in staple. Some single cells which could be draAvn out 
were found to resembh; flax in most respects, but differing in decided markings 
that form long spirals, and also in the diameter of the internal cavity which is 
less than that of flax, and also more irregular. 

A specimen of this fibre, perfectly cottonized from Russia, which I have in 
my collection, shows that the cells will not average more than three-fourths of 
an inch, if so much. 

No. 3. " Russian hemp, hij Burgess." — Not quite white. Not well cotton- 
ized, and, therefore, with filaments of unequal length. 

As compared with American hemp the cells seem to have a greater diameter 
for the internal cavity, and the transverse markings are more oblique. I cannot 
say that this is a constant character, but it agrees very well with the drawing 
of Russian hemp given by Schacht, as will be seen on reference to the figure 
No. 4. 

No. 4. " Glausenized Jlax-cotton, Geo. Graham, Cincinnati." — Cream-white. 
Unequal in length ; many single cells, but mostly filaments composed of four to 
eight. This shows that the process has not been carried to completion, as is 
also indicated by the adhering remains of short or pith cells. 

No. 5. " Green flax boiled in caustic soda, but not cottonized, McFarlane." — 
Yellowish white. Coarse to the touch ; very long filaments, the finest contain- 
ing at least six cells. The filaments are evidently too long and coarse to be 
treated as cotton. 

As the action of caustic alkali is capable of separating the fibre into indi- 
vidual cells, it seems that this product has been obtained by a less prolonged 
action, or a weaker solution. 

No. G. " T/nret ted or green Jlax, Claussenized by McFarJane." — One specimen 
in long slivers, the other bleached, the latter only examined. Some single and 
long cells, but many compound; no possible determination of average length. 
This has evidently been obtained from a flax having very long cells. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOE COTTON. 



(b 



No. 7. ' Erolm or flax-wool: G. Davis, Cmcm?««;/."_Unbleached ; lon^ fila- 
ments; seven to ten cells in each; also with adhering remains of short cefls. 

JNo. 8. By R T. Shaw; his No. 2 coUonized 7?«a;."_Yellowish gray- 
staple e..r^ unequal; mostly short or broken single colls, some filaments with 
four or more. Ihere is too much difference in this material to be wholly treated 
by one process of manufacture. The very great irregularity in length would 
prevent this. The whole mass is very closely matted. So^e cells of extra- 
ordinary length were found; it must have been a remarkable flax to furnish 

No. 9. ^^Fihrilm wool, bleached: S. M. ^//c;^. "-Yellowish cream- white- 
mostly very long filaments, consisting of twelve or more cells, utterly incapable 
of being used on cotton machinery. '■ 

No. 10. " Kentucki/ hemp, bij H. J5«r^m>."— Unbleached; very unequal fila- 
ments; some apparently single cells, or two or more slightly overlapping; very 
long compound filaments. I'l o > ^ j- 

No. 11. ^'Flbrilia kemp: S. 31. Allen, Bos(on."~White (bleached) blue, 
and unb cached specimens. The bleached only examined. Very unequal com- 
pound filaments. Ihe first drawn out containing about four cells 

No 12. ^^Hemp-cotton: E. T. Shaw.''~T\i\^ specimen consists almost wholly, 
If not entirely, of wool as can be determined by the naked eye, and by the 
smell when burnt. . 1 his has, no douht, occurred from some accidental coniiision 
o^f the specimens exhibited to the commission, from which this sample was'se- 

, ^^-l^- ''^'^f^^'^^';j«^«'^^«- India. Urticacecs. B^ L. W. Wright, Brook- 
lyn,JSew York. — Ihi.s specimen must have been presented as a mere curiosity 
it shows this splendid fibre with its unrivalled length, but in a condition unfit 
for cotton manufacture; indeed, it is only in the state of the refuse tow obtained 
m the preparation of the long fibre which forms the well-known "grass-cloth" 
ot the east. It was not exhibited as a cottonized sample 

No. 14. ^'Jute by alkali: R. T. 5Aa...."-Yellowish white; coarse to the 
touch; unequal staple; single filaments of many cells 

No. 15. ^^Flax: R.Fletcher, Oswego, New York:^~Wh{tQ, bleached; staple 
very unequal; finer filaments of at least seven cells, many shorter; adhering 
remams I am asked to determine if there are many broken cells. A bundle 
of the shorter part of the staple shows mostly single cells, some of them within 
broken ends. If this product is from flax cut into moderately short bits, it 
would seem that some waste would arise from the fragments which fall off in 
handling the specimen; l3ut the quantity would-be very trifling when compared 
with the waste from such equal staple. ^ 

J.T^\ ^f' ''-^/i!''r^' ^^\'''\ Glaremont, New Hampshire. Unretted and un- 
bleached stock —Grayish white; staple rather shorter than in most of the 
specimens, and more uniform, but still unequal. Some compound filaments 
found ""'"^ remains. Seems to contain more flattened cells than are usually 

The shorter compound filaments, which make the whole product more uni- 
form in ength, are to be noted. They may have been obtained by cutting the 
flax^ as this vvould give a maximum length to the most complex filaments. 
./.. ; iVl'TT^f" ,^Tt "{j'f^'dflax, disintegrated, but not separated; 
also (a,)(b,J(c,)and (d.r-Mj attention has been called to the hank, (un- 
bleached,) which has considerable tenacity when dry, but is readily separated 
into cells_ or smaller filaments when wet. The water swells and lubricates the 
parts, which theix slip by each other; while, when dry, the natural arrange- 
ment of the cells gives too much friction to allow them to part, and, havino- 
been previously wetted, they have turned somewhat in drying and so gained a 
hold on each other. Adhering remains of a yellowish color were found 



76 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR IIEi\IP FOR COTTON. 

'' (a.) Retted; steamed with caustic soda and carded; same stock as (h.y — 
Gray; staple unequal, about one-half to one and a quarter inch in length. 
Mostly siuf^le cells, but with many adhering reniains. Shows very well the in- 
equality of the flax cells in length. In this specimen there are some cells (/f 
very large diameter. 

'^(h.) Same stock as fa; J retted, steamed, and pi eked ^ — Staple shorter than 
in the last specimen; compound filaments; adhering remains abundant; some 
broken cells. 

"(c.J'" — No memorandum. Gray; not bleached. Staple uue(|ual; many 
long compound filaments; also long single cells, as in No. 1. 

"(d.) Ret led, and steamed ivith caustic, soda. Croj) of 1862.'^ — Gray; very 
long staple; many long single cells; still longer coinpoiuid lilaments of a few 
cells. Seems to be an extraordinary flax, as far as regards the length of the 
single cells. 

No. 18. "■ Kpilol/nim ; from Rutger B. Miller, Utica, New York." — Cream- 
white; silky lustre. Staple very short. Consists, like most seed hairs, of 
single cells. Their walls are very thin ; they make sharp bends, and seem to 
be brittle, AV'^ithout the least wind or twist, and, while resembling the down of 
asclepias, are of less length, with a rather strong longitudinal marking. Utterly 
useless for spinning. Even when mixed Avith other fibres, would fly oflt" in the 
process of manufacture. 

No. 19. " Bos/mieria, sp.or Laportea? IL Chute, St. Ant7wny, Minnesota." — 
Que specimen unbleached, the otlier bleached; both of similar character; rather 
harsh to the touch. On examination, the filaments prove to be compound and 
flat, consisting of more than five cells. There has evidently been no process 
used to isolate the cells, which bold together very tenaciously, and also have 
adhering remains. The smallest fragments that could be drawn out were still 
compound. A sufHciently ])rolouged treatment with alkaline solutions would 
separate the cells ; but any mechanical means, or more rapid action of re-agents, 
only brought to sight portions of single cells from which their character might 
be determined. These appeared to be flattish, with rather thick walls, and long 
spiral markings. It is probable that the individual cells are quite long, judging 
from the appearance of the filaments. 

GEORGE C. SCHzEFFER. 



OTHER FIBRES. 

In entering upon the consideration of any other fibrous plants than those 
mentioned in the act of Congress, we are aware that the commission may be 
said to have transgressed the bounds, and to have gone extra limites ; but the 
deep interest that attaches to the subject, and the importance of some of these 
substances in the various arts of life, are thought to justify their introduction 
into this re^^ort. 

In the preparation of this section Ave have been largely indebted to the re- 
ports of the juries of the international exhibition at London — a rare work, 
which is not generally accessible to our countrymen. Quotations are here 
made the more willingly in consideration of the eminence of the distinguished 
men who served upon the jury. They are the highest authority upon this 
topic, and we may do well to observe their dicta with regard to these sub- 
stances, many of which are comparatively new to civilized life. 

There are a great many fibrous plants in various parts of the country that 
present us with beautiful and strong fibres, which may be utilized in the arts. 
All of the mallow tribe are characterized by having bast-cells of great strength. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OE HEMP FOR COTTON. 



77 



Many of these may be applied to useful purposes. The sida ahutilmi lias been 
prepared many years since, and the fibres exhibited and declared equal to the 
finest flax. This is a common weed. 

Another of this family is the hibiscus, or marsh mallow, of which there are 
several species that have attracted attention, and which have been brought into 
notice at different times. 

The asclepias family are also remarkable for the beauty of the fibres fur- 
nished by their stems. Several specimens are exhibited in the museum. The 
silk attached to their seeds is not useful, though very beautiful. The cornuti, 
or sijriaca, is a hardy perennial herbaceous plant, which has long been culti- 
vated in Europe. It may be grown from seed, or by subdivision of the root. 
Planted at suitable distances, it would be easily cultivated, and, if close enough, 
would produce a heavy crop of tall, slender stems, well clothed with the fibre. 
This plant, being a perennial, would continue to furnish successive crops for 
many years without renewal, and would require very little culture. It affects 
low lands near streams, but may be grown on any tillable soil of moderate 
fertility. This substance has been attracting a good deal of attention lately in 
the public press. Other plants of the same family, and nearly allied to this, 
are also rich in fibre. 

The apocynum on exhibition has a very fine and silky fibre, And its name, 
cannabinuvi, indicates that the botanists perceived its hempen characteristics. 
The Indians used these fibres in the construction of their bow-strings. 

After considering the several other textile substances assigned to their inves- 
tigation, the jury proceed, in their report, which was prepared by Mr. Alcan, to 
the examination of what are styled miscellaneous fibres, as appears in the fol- 
lowing extracts : 

"In the various collections of raw produce a very large uiraiber of other fibrous sub- 
stances, used as siibstitutes for cotton, flax, and hemp, are shown; some of these are new, 
ur but little known, and among them are several which, from their valuable properties, seem 
likely, ere long, to become important articles of trade, and not merely to form excellent sub- 
stitutes for the substances already employed by manufacturers, but even in some cases to lead 
to the development of nev/ branches of industry. 

"An interesting series of hemp, flax, and other fibrous substances is contained in the Liver- 
pool collection of imports. These include — 



Name of fibre. 



Dutch flax. .. 
Egyptian flax 

Tow , 

Hemp 

Jute 

Sunn 

Coir rope 

Coir yarn 



9. China grass 



10. 
11. 
12. 

v.^. 

14. 

If). 



Picaba 

Manilla hemp. . 
Brazil palmetto 

Brazil j ate - 

Spanish moss . . . 
Vegetable silk . . 



Name of plant. 



Linum usitatissimum . . 

. ..do do 

. . .do do V 

Cannabis sativa 

Corchorus capsularis.. 

Crotolaria juncea 

Cocos uucifera 

. . do do 



Urtica nivea* 



Attalea fuuifera 

Musa textilis 

Carnanba palm 

Unknown 

Tillandsia usneoides. 
Chorisa speciosa 



Whence derived. 



1849. 1850. 



Holland 

Alexandria 

Holland 

Canada 

East Indies 

.. do ... do 

Bombay and Calcutta. . 
do do 



Canton and Hong Kong 



Para 

Manilla 

Para 

..do 

Brazil. . 
..do.... 



Tons. 

78 



3 

8,660 



470 
200 



Bales. 
150 



Tons. 



81 



Tons. 

153 

270 
3 



12,216 

81 

1,100 

370 

Bales. 
320 

Tons. 
300 
192 



♦Boehroeria nivea. 



78 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON 



Among fibrous materials cue of the most interesting is the " China-grass," of which nu- 
merous spcciincns are exhibited in vaiiuus departments of the building, some of the most 
comjiUte and vaiuabie series being in the English gallery. 

Although China-grass iibre is eom[)aralivi'ly a new material in the hands of our manufac- 
tinvrs, yet it has been known to men of seiencc tor a very considerable time ; but certain 
practical dithculties have hitherto prevented it from being usefully and profitably employed. 
China-glass librc is oljtained iVom Urtica ««i-«/,* abundant in China and in various jjartsofthc 
Indian empire, where it has long bi:en used by the natives, who, by the simple niaeeratinn of 
the plants, obl.'iin from them a strong and ^■l'ry ttsr ful iibre. Of the various tibn's (examined 
b}' Dr. Roxburgh, at the eonuucnci'ment of the jjrcsent century, with a view to the discovery 
of some cheap and good substitiUc for hemp, one of the most promising was the "Callooee" 
hemp, "Kaukhura," or the "Ramy," of the islands and Malay iK'uinsula. This he found 
to be the produce of the Urtica, to which he gave the name of L'rtlca tcnacissimn. The plant 
was introduced in ]>\II5, from Bencoolen to Calctitta, when; it was cultivated for se\ eral years 
in the Botanic Garden, then under the charge of Dr. Roxburgh. A considerable quantity 
of Callooee hemp having been imjiorted into England in J8J4, its practical value was tested 
by some competent authorities, and as the rei)orts were highly favorable as io its strength 
and other valuable qualities, tlie Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Manufactures 
awarded a silver medal to Captain Joseph Cotton, of the East India Company, for its intro- 
duction. The chief obstacle which intmtered, however, with its use was the dithcuity which 
was found to exist in the ])reparatiun of the fibre from the stems of the ))lants. None of the 
processes usiuilly adopted with iiax or hemp were found to be at all suitable to them, and the 
rude, wasteful, and imperfect means employed by the natives in preparing the fibre for the 
manufacttno of twine, tlu'ead, and fishing nets, b}' the mere process of scraping, were wholly 
inapplicable on a large scale, and gave, besides, a very inferior result. When macerated or 
retted in water, it was found that the hbre itself was more easily destroyed than the glutinous 
matter of the stem. It was hoped that the introduction of the machines of Mr. Lee for 
breaking the straw umetted, and of Messrs. Hill & Bundy, already referred to, would have 
obviated this dithculty ; but such did not prove to be the case. 

During the last forty years various attempts have been made to devise a good and cheap 
process for preparing this fibre, but hitherto without much success ; and consequmitly, till 
quite recently, the cost of the fibre was such as to preclude its being brought into the market 
as a substitut<' for flax. But recent investigations have shown that the urtica tenacissima 
and the hetcropliylla may be obtained, in almost unlimited (juautities, in various parts of 
India ; and a process which has lately been patented appears, to a very great extent, to have 
removed the practical difliculiies which previously stood in the way of its empluyment by 
manufacturers, so that in a few years it is jirobable that the Callooee hemp will constitute an 
important addition to the fibrous nuitcrials employed in thi; arts. 

The process of Messrs. L. W. Wright &. Co., for the preparation of China-grass, &c., for 
which a patent was obtained in ]841>, consists essentially in a very ingenious arrangement 
fo» boiling the stems in an alkaline solution, after they have previously been steeped for 
tweuty-four hours in cold water, and for twenty-four hours in water of a temperature of 9U'^. 
The fibre is then thoroughly washed \\ ith pure water, and finally subjected to the action of a 
current of high-pressure steam till nearly dry. 

The following table shows the comparative strength of several of these East Indian fibres, 
as ascertained by Dr. Roxburgh ; but it must be borne in mind that in several instances the 
fibres had evidently been very rudely and impcrlectly prepared : the experiments were made 
in 1804. 







Breaking 
weight. 


1. Hemp (English) 

2. Murga (Siuiseviera) 

3. Aloe 


Cannabis sativa 


1 05 pounds. 
1^20 " 


Aletris ner\'osa 




110 " 


4. Ejoo 

f). Dousha 


Saguerus Ruinphii 


96 


^schynomene. canuabina 


88 


0. Coir 


Cocos nucilt*ra . 


87 


7. Hemp ( Indian ) 

8. WooUet comal 


Cannaijis sativa 


74 " 


Abroma augusta 


74 " 


9 do 


liauliinia 


G9 


10. Sunn 


Crotalaria juncea. 


68 " 


1 1 . Binijrhi i)aat 




(i8 


12. Gini nala })aat 


' ' capsularis 


G7 


1:5 do 


Hibiscus manihot 


Gl '• 


14, Flax (Indian) 

1 


Liimm usitatissimum . ... . 


JO 







■ Boehmoria nivca. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON 



79 



It is evident, however, that these experiments could not be regarded as giving at all accurate 
comparative results ; they only proved that many of the fibres were very strong, and well 
mei-ited further trials. In 1808 Dr. Roxburgh made a second series of similar experiments, the 
result of several of which was as follows : 







Breaking 

weight. 


I. Bow-strino" hemp 


Asclepias, sp . 


248 pounds 
240 




Urtica teuacissima 


3 do 


Corchorus capsularis 


164 


4. Sunn 


Crotalaria juncea 


160 






1.^58 


6. Donsha . 


jEschynomene cannabina 


138 


7. . do . 


Hibiscus strictus 


128 


8. Musta paat 


' ' cannabinus ...... 


115 


9. Bunghi paat 


Corchorus olitorifis . 


113 '• 


10. Plantain 


Musa 


79 









Dr. Ure states that the relative tenacities or strength of several textile fibres 
has been experimentally found by suspending weights to threads or cords of 
them of a certain diameter, and the following results were obtained : 

Flax 1000 

Hemp 1390 

NewZealandflax 1996 

Silk 2894 

The strength of cotton and wool, he adds, has not been so well ascertained, 
but it is much inferior to that of the preceding filaments. The New Zealand 
flax, which forms so strong a rope, is easily broken by any flexure, and therefore 
does not form a durable canvas.* 

It is plain that the strength of all these fibres was ascertained under very unfavorable 
circumstances, and there is no doubt that they would have been found even yet more valuable 
had they been well and properly prepared. The principal vegetable fibres contributed fi"om 
India are the following: 

1. "Callooee," "Rhea," or "China-grass," the fibre of Urtica teiiacisswia, and one or two 
other varieties of Urtica, already mentioned as well known in commerce under the name of 
"China-grass." Strictly speaking, it is probable that China-grass and Callooee hemp are the 
produce of two distinct species of Urtica, though the fibre of the two is very similar, and, for all 
practical purposes, in fact identical. China-grass, as it is most commonly called, is tlae pro- 
duce of the Urtica (Bahmeria) nivea of Willdenow, whilst the Callooee, Kalmoi, or Rami, of 
Sumatra, is obtained from the Urtica (Bahincria) tenacissima of Roxburgh. It is from this 
latter plant, also, that the Rhea of Assam is pi^ocured. The plants yielding this beautiful 
fibre are very abundant in many parts of the empire, and may be had in almost unlimited 
quantities. 

In the form of hemp, and when the fibre is well prepared, it is remarkably strong, and 
when thoroughly bleached, though the strength is then somewhat diminished, it acquires a 
most remarkably beautiful white silky lustre ; unfortunately it is one of the most highly 
venomous of all the nettle tribe. It is stated that the Todawars prepare the fibre of this 
plant by boiling the stems in water, after which they readily separate it from the woody parts, 
and then spin it into a coarse but very strong thread. The Malays simply steep the stems iu 
water for ten or twelve days, after which they are so much softened that the outer fibrous 
portion is easily peeled off. 

2. " Yercum nar." The fibres of the Calotropis (Asclepias) gigantea, a plant which grows 
wild abundantly in various parts of the Bengal and Madras Presidencies, and is used by the 
natives iu the manufacture of cord called "Lamb-dore," or "Toondee coir." The fibre is of 
very remarkable strength : from some recent experiments made by Dr. Wight, its tenacity, as 
compared with some of the other Indian fibres when made into rope, is as follows : 



Philosophy of Manufactures, p. 101. 



80 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 



1. Yorciuii uar... 

'J. JiiUiViiuni 

:5. Cutllialay uar 

4. Cotton 

ManKil 



Biealiiug 
weijrht. 



Calotropis ^-ipuitea ^>i>2 pounds. 

Crotaluiiii juucea 407 " 

Af^'uve umei icaim \ -ItJ'-i 

(ios.sypiuni lieibaccum i •! 10 '' 

S:msc\'ieiii zoyhiuieu ' -'lO " 

G. Vooloy Muu^i'u I lliljiscus camuibiuus ; '-J'.H) " 

7. Coir i Cociis uucil'cru : '«i'<i4 *' 

Specimens of tlio Yerciim, or fibre of Asclcpias gigantea (and of the Tougoos, and of 
Ijio Aaclrpias tcnarignimti), or bow-string hemp of Eajemalial, are sent from Coiuibatore and 
other d.siricts in the Madras Presidency. 

'6. " L'mbaree,'' or "Maesteepat;" thefibreof the Palungeo, or Hibiscus cannubinus, a plant 
common all over India, and cultivated in many parts for the sake of its filjre. The process 
generally adopted seems to be thatof steeping the stems in water till putrefaction commences, 
when tli'ey are taken out, washed, and beaten until the fibre separates from the woody portion 
of the stem; this fibre is contributed from Madras. 

4. "Marool," or "Moorva;" bow-striug hemp, obtained from the Saiiscvicra zeijlanica, a 
plant abundant in the southern parts of the contiueut of India, sent from Cuttack, Coimbatore 
and other districts in the Madras Presidency. 

5. "Jute," or " Paat," &c., the fibre of various species of Corchorus, especially C. olitoriiis, 
well known in couunerce, one variety of it having been formerly called Chinese hemp. 
Many diti'erent samples of this fibre are contributed from Calcutta and from Madras. From 
Rungpore, in the district of jMoorshedabad, samples of three varieties of jute are sent, called 
Sutied llemouty Pat, Lall llemoiity Pat, and Lall Petrie Pat. 

0. "(Sunn," " Janapam," Indian hemp; the libn: of the Crotaiaria juncea, likewise well 
known in commerce. Good samples are contributed from Coimbatore, &c. 

7. "Dhuucha," or "Dunchc," obtained from the JEschynomene cannabina, used by the 
natives of Bengal to make fishing-nets ; a remarkably strong, though rather harsh fibre, pretty 
well known in commerce. The plant is commonly cultivated in Bengal. 

?:. "Coir," the fibrous part of the husk of the cocoa-nut, Cocos nucifcra, well known in 
commerce ; good samples are scut from Calicut. 

'J. Nar, or aloe fibre, the produce of the Agave vivipara, and other allied species. A valu 
able and strong fibre is prepared in many parts of India from dift'erent species of aloe. A 
very interesting series of these fibres, which are obtained from the large Hill aloe, and from 
the small aloe, illustrating the preparation of the fibre, exhibiting some of the uses to which 
it is applicable, and showing the facility with which it may be dyed of various colors, is 
exhibited. 

10. Specimens of aloe fibre are contributed from various parts of the Madras Presidency, 
Madras, Madura, Coimbatore, &c., and from Singapore. 

11. Yucca fibre, obtained from Y^ucca gloriosa, is also sent from Madras. 

12. Ejoo, or Goummti, obtained from the Arcnga succ/tarifera (Sugucrua Rumphii) or Ghim- 
muttee Palm, nmch esteemed in the Eastern Archipelago for making ropes and cables, in 
consequence of its extraordinary elasticity and durability in water ; unfortunately the value 
of this fiijre is greatly diminished by its peculiar fragility. Very good samples of this fibre 
are contributed from Singapore. 

\\\. Putwa or Mawal fibre, obtained fiom the Bavhinia raccmosa, a plant common through- 
out the lesser hills of India, contributed from Bhaugulpore, in the division of Patna. 

14. Talli lianas, fibre ol" the pine-apple, Bromdui ananas, from various localities. (Jood 
samples are exhibited iiom Madras, Singapore, and from Travancore, &c. Some very 
beautifiil specimens of fibre called "ananas flax" arc exhibited from .lava; the real source 
of this iilire does not seem to be very certain, for though from its name it might be supposed 
to bo pine-apple fibre, it more closely resembles that of the Urticas, or Boehmerias, already 
mentioned. 

15. Plantain fibre and Manilla hemp, obtained from the Musa textilis and M. paradisaica, 
contributed from Madras, from Dacca, and from Chittagong. Excellent canvas and ropes 
are shown made by this fibre, which is extensively used in the government estabUshments 
at Ceylon. 

](). Maisdenia fibre, obtained from Marsdenia lioylii, and contributed from Nepal. 

17. Pulas, fibre of the Butea frondosa, used for making common cordage, from Beerbhoom, 
in the division of Moorshedabad. 

IH. Parkinsonia fibre, obtained from the steins of P«rAi«sowi« nfK/frt?«, introduced from 
the West Indies, sent from Madras, said to be well suited for the manufacture of paper. 

It). lioxburghia fibre, obtained from the Roxburghia gloriosoidcs. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 81 

20. Artocarpiis fibre, obtained from an Artocarpus ; this and the preceding fibre are con- 
tributed from A»8am. 

2.1. Trap fibre, obtained from the bark of the trap tree, a species of Artocarpus, contributed 
from Singapore. • 

22. Trophis fibre, from the Tropkis nspera. 

23. Daphne bark, the fibrous bark of the Daphne cannahina, used in the manufacture of 
Nepal paper. 

Besidt'S these, several other fibrous substances from different parts of India are exhibited, 
such as the fibres of the Palmyra leaf, Borussus fluhcUifornns, from Madras, the bark of the 
Sissi tree, and a series of vegetable fibres from Anacan, called Theng-Lan-shaw, Pathayon- 
shaw, yhaw-phyos, Ngan-tsoung-shaw, ShaAv-me, and Ee-gy\vot-shaw, &c. 

Several of the Indian fibres, already mentioned, are also contributed from Ceylon. Good 
samples are shown, both as mere fibres, and also in the various states of thread, ropes, and 
coarse cloth; of coir, aloe, flax, and the fibre of the Plantain, Hibiscus, and Sanseviera. 
Specimens of aloe fibre are contributed from the Cape of Good Hope. Aloe fibre, obtained 
from Agate amcricana and A. vivipara, has been also sent from Baibadoes. 

From St. Vincent, samples of the " Mahant" baik in its raw state, the fibrous part in the 
state in which it is employed in the manufacture of fishing-nets, and samples of lapeto, used 
also in the nianufactme of common cord and coarse lines tor fishing-nets, aie exhibited. 

Several interesting specimens of various fibres are shown in the collection from British 
Guiana ; among these are specimens of silk-cotton obtained from the Bouibax ceiba, from 
George Town, Demerara, said to be exported to the United States, and used in the manu- 
facture of hats. 

Plantain fibre, Mvsa paradisaica and M. snpicntum, from Plantation Vigilance, East Coast, 
Demerara, and from Plantation Klein, Pouderoyen river, Demerara. It is calculated that 
about eight hundred weight per acre of this excellent fibre might be obtained ; at present verv 
little of it is used. It is worthy of remark that, in some of the first lists of premiums ofiere'd 
by the Society of Arts, about 1762, special attention was drawn to the beautiful fibre of the 
plantain: "Whereas the stem of the Asiatic and American fruit-bearing plantain afiords 
three sorts of fibrous materials, which resemble hemp, hard silk, and cotton, all which have 
been experimentally found capable of being wrought into various sorts of manufactures; 
and among others, into cordage, fustians, lawn, knitting, gauze, blonde lace, and excellent 
candle-wicks, sundry specimens of which manufactures may be seen in the hands of the 
register of the society, &c." This advertisement was continued for several successive years, 
but as no cnndidate came forward to claim the offered reward, it was at last; discontinued. 

Silk-grass fibre, the fibre of the Agace vivipara, from Plantation Vigilance, East Coast, 
Demerara, and Fibiiri fibre, obtained from the Ita jjalm, Mauritia flexuosu, from the river 
Berbice, are exbibited. 

Mahoe, or Mahoe fibre. Hibiscus elatus or Tlicspcsin popiilnea, from Demerara, is exhibited ; 
it is a very strong, but coarse fibre, used for making cordage, coffee bags, &c. 

Some good samples of Yucca hemp, together with a leaf of the Yucca scrrutata, from which 
it is obtained, and rope and cordage manufactured from it, are shown from Nassau, Bahamas ; 
also spccmieus of the fibie of the Palmetto, and of rope made from it. 

In the Trmidad collection are some specimens of the fibre of the pine-apple and aloe, and 
also of the fibre of the Mahagua, or Majagua, Htcrculea carribaiu. 

Specimens of the leaf and fibre of the Doryanthcs cxctlsa are contributed fi'om New South 
Wales, as well as some rope made of the latter. 

Some good samjsles of New Zealand flax, P/iormium tenax, are contributed by various 
exhibitors. Among others New Zealand flax, cleaned and prepared by machinery. 

In the Austrian collections speciuieus of fibrous wood, divided into very thin and slender 
strips, and used instead of straw in the manufacture of plaited work, are shown, from Zinn- 
vrald, near Koplitz, in Bohemia. 

A good fibre prepared fVom the date palm, together with rope, string, nets and brushes 
made from the fibres, are contributed from Broulos, Ghizeh, antl other places in Eo-ypt. 

Specimens of flax, cotton, pita, or aloe fibre, and mallow fibre, are contributed from 
Madeira. 

A fine and veiy beautiful fibrous material called "Bejuco" is exhibited from the island of 
Luzon. This substance is very strong, and is used in the manufacture of plaited work, and 
a sort of cloth remaikable for its strength and softness. 

Specimens of several of the textile fibres of Cuba are contributed, including the Daguilla, 
or fibious inner bark of the Lagctta lintearia, together with cord made of it; cord and mats 
made of palm fibre ; Magagna, the fibre of the Faritiuvi datum, and the fibre of the Hibiscus 
cannabinus. 

Samples of a valuable grass, the Macrochloa tcnacissima, much used for the manufacture 
of cord, &c., and which might probably be advantageously employed by paper-makers, are 
exhibited from Huesca. 

Plantain fibre, prepared from the stem of the plantain, Musa sapientum, is exhibited from 
Puerto Rico; and Pita, the fibre of the wild aloe Agave americana, is shown from Murcia, 

Other fibres, from Jamaica, by N. Wilson, who has named thespecies correctly. 
Ex. Doc. 35 6 



82 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Musk okra, Abelmoschus niosuhiUus, six loi-t six inches. Common okra, A. esculentus, 
nine feet. 
Abroma nuj^usta, six feet six inches. 
Abiitilou graveoleus, live feet. 
Abulilou venosum, four feet three inches. 
Adansonia digitata, three feet nine inclies. Monkey bread. 
^Eseliyuomene cannaliina, four feet six inches. Dunsha ot India. 
As^ave karato, three feet six inches. American aloe or karato. 
Ahsraa cordi folia, two feet six inches. Water plantain. 
Alpinia nutans, four feet. Shell-plant of India. 
Alpiuia allu^has, three feet six inches. Shell-plant of India. 
Aniomum sylvestre, four f^et. Common wild ginger. 
Ananassa sativa, four feet six inches. Pine-apple, black var. 
Anona muricata, four feet. Sour sop. 
Anona cherimolia, four feet six inches. Chcrimoyer. 
Auona palustris, live ft'ct. Cork-wood or eow-itpple. 
Artabotrys odoratissima, five feet two inches. 
Arum macrorhizou, nineteen feet— twenty-six feet six inches. 
Arum funiculaceum, four feet six inches. ^ ,c c l 

Arum funiculaceum, aerial root, ten and a half fcet-fourtcea and a halt teet. 
Arum funiculaceum, petiole of, two feet six inches. 
Astrapani Wallichii, two feet six inches. 
Bambusa gigantea, six feet. Bamboo. 
Bixa orellana, four feet. Arnatto. 

Boehmeria nivea, three feet eight inches. Rhea or China-grass. 
Bromelia pinguin, five feet six inches. Piuguiu. 
Bromelia kavatas, ten feet two inches. Piuguiu silk-grass. 
Calathea zebrina, two feet six inches. Petiulc of zebra plant. 
Canna indica, one foot six inches. Indian shot. 
Carludovica palmata, ten feet. Yipi yapa for the Panama hats. 
Carludovica peduncle, two feet six inches. 
Carica papaya, five feet. Pawpaw. 
Caroliniaiusiguis, four feet six inches. 
Cecropia peltata, petiole, two feet three inches. Tnimpet tree. 

Caryota ureus, two feet six inches. Kitoo! fibre from a palm. 

Caryota urens, from spathe, four feet six inches. 

Corypha umbraculifera, petiole, six feet six inches. Talipot palm. 

Costus afer, three feet six inches. African costus. 

Cocus nucifera, coir. Cocoa-nut palm. One nut yields one pound fifteen ounces. 

Cordia sebesteua, four feet six inches. Scarlet eordia. 

Cordia macropliylla, six feet. Broad-leaved cherry. 

Cordia gerascanthus, three feet. Spanish elm. 

Cordia coUococca, five feet. Clammy cherry. 

Corchorus olitorius, three feet six inches. .Jute of India. 

Corchorus siliquosus, two feet eight inches. 

Cordyline heliconirefolia, two feet. 

Cochlospermum hibiscilblia, five feet. 

Curcunui lunga, three feet. Turmeric. 

Cyperus elegaus, four feet eight inches. Elegant sedge 

Daphne tinifolia, five feet. Burn-nose bark. 

Eriodeudron anfractuosum, five feet. Silk cotton tree. 

Guazuma ulmifolia, four feet. IJastard cedar. 

Gossypium hirsutuui, fom" feet two inches. Cotton shmb. 

Glossospermum, six feet. 

Hedcyhiumiongifolium, four feet six inches. Garland flower. 

Helicteres jamaiceusis, four feet six inches. Screw tree. 

Helicteres isora, three feet. 

Heliconia brasilieusis, six feet six inches. Wild plantain, Brazil. 

Ileliconia bihai, seven feet. Wild i)lantain of Jamaica. 

Heliconia psitta conim, two feet six inches. 

Hibiscus rosa sinensis var., five feet. Chinese rose. 

Hibiscus llliiHora, four feet. Lily-flowered shoe-black. 

Hibiscus radiatus, six feet ten inches. Purple shoe-black. 

Hibiscus Sabdaritfa, six feet six inches. Indian sorrel. 

Hibiscus viiitblius, four feet. 

Hibiscus lam])as, five leet. 

Ismeno calatluna, i)cdanclo of three feet six incljes. Gigantic lily. 

Kajempferia galanga, two feet six inches. Galiugalo. 

Kleinhofia hospita, three feet ten inches. 

Kydia calycina, lour feet four inches. 

l»agetta liutoaria. Lace bark. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR DEMP FOR COTTON. 83 

Malachra capitata, five feet. Wild okro. 
Malachra iirens, three feet. 

Malvaviscus aibofeus, six feet six inches. Wild mahoe. 
Maranta sauguinea, two feet six inches. 
Marauta arundiuacea, one foot six inches. Arrowroot. 
Momordic'a lufia. Vine strainer. 
Musa textilis, six feet. Manilla hemp. 

Musa violacea, live feet six inches. Violet-flowering plantain. 
Musa cocciuca, lour feet six inches. Scarlet flowering plantain. 
Musa sapientutu, eight feet six inches. Banana. 
Musa paradisaica, nine feet. Plantain. 
Mxisa cavendishii, three feet six inches. Chinese banana. 
Ochronia lagopus, eight feet. Down tree tifty-seventy feet. 
Oncidium carlhaginense, two feet six inches. Orchid epiphytal. 
Pandanus spiralis, live feet. Leaves of screw pine. 
Pandanus .spiralis, three feet. Aerial roots. 
Paudanus moschatus, leaves, three feet. 
Pandanus moschatus, aerial root, three feet. 
Pandanus variegatus elegans, five feet, leaves of. 
Pandanus variegatus, aerial root of, live feet. 
Paritium elatum, seven feet. Mahoe tree, tifty-seventy feet, 
Paritium macrophyllum, Ave feet. East Indian mahoe. 
Paritium macrophyllum, petiole of, one foot six inches. 
Paritium tiliaceum, five feet. Sea side m.ahoe. 
Pothos violacea, two feet six inches. Wild coco. 

Pothos violacea, wild coco, new, two feet six inches. Substitute for straw plait. 
Pavonia odorata, three feet three inches. 
Pavonia racemosg^ three feet three inches. 
Sterculia carriboea, three feet six inches. Large tree. 
Sterculia patens, three feet three inches. 
Sanseviera zeylanica, three feet. Bow-string hemp. 
Sanseviera guincensis, three feet. 
Sanseviera cylindrica, three feet. 
Sida mollis, five feet six inches. Broom-Vi^eed. 
Sida hirsuta, four feet. 

Sida jamaicensis, two feet three inches. A common weed. 
Sida siliaris, three feet. A connnon weed. 
Sida dumosa, six feet. A common weed. 
Sida rhombifolia, two feet eight inches. 
Sida uluiifolia, thi"ee feet six inches. 
Thrinax parv'iflora, foiu* feet six inches. Fan palm. 
Theobroma cacao, eight feet. Cocoa. 
Tillandsia serrata, four feet six inches. Wild pine. 
Triumfetta semi-triloba, four feet six inches. 13urr-wee<:l, common. 
Typha latifolia, four feet. Cats'-tail. 
Urena siuuata, three feet three inches. 

Urena typhalea, three feet nine inches. White-flowering biuT-weed. 
Uvaria pcndulata, four feet eight inches. Largo tree. 
Veronia curassavica, four feet six inches. Black sage. 
Zingiber othcinule, three feet six inches. Ginger, 
Yucca aloefolia, two feet. Dagger plant. 
Yucca tilamentosa, one foot six inches. 
Yuccti gloriosa, three feet. 

The most valuable of these for cordage 'will be the Boehmeria nivea, introduced from 
India, the mahoes, the sanseviera, the common and wild plantains, and the bromelias. 

Silk-cottons are produced in great abundance in many tropical countries, but the ejitreme 
smoothness and roundness of their beautiful silky fibres render them utterly useless for 
spinning, and being very brittle and easily reduced to dust, they are not well adapted for 
stuffing cushions or bedding. They may be useful for gun cotton. 
The Brazilian collection contained the following : 
Down of the seeds of Echitcs suberosa. 

Yellow down, (paiua do pedra or amarella, ) the silk-cotton tree seeds, a species of Bomhax. 
Down of the Lmbiri9u, Bombax caroitnnni. 

Silk-cotton, from seeds of the Cuba, a Bomhax. , 

Silk-cotton tree (paina de paineira macho.) from seeds of Chorisia pccholtiana. 
Down of seed (paina de abobora) supposed to be one of the anclepiadacea:. 
Down of the silk-cotton tree (paina tenia,) Chorisia speciosa. 
White down of a silk-cotton Dee, supposed to be a Bombax. 
Down of a climber (paina loura, or cipo de peunes,) Stipecoma peltigera. 
Down of seeds of Oxypetaltim campcstre. 



84 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OL HEMP FOR COTTON. 



Down of seeds of Aschpias ciirassavica. 
Down of seeds of Arnnjn alhctia. 
Down lit' sci'ds of Bombyco spermum. 

From Trinidad : 
Oelironia iupopns. 
Manicariii Kacfifera. 
Tiilandsia usiieoidcs. 
Bronieiia karatas. 
Af^avo vivipara. 
Sauseviera (ruineensis. 

Musa rosaccre, M. tcxtilis, M. sapientum, and M. paradisaica. 
JIauvitia ficxuosa. 

Apciba Tiboiirbon, A. ulmifolia, and A. aspera. 
TrinniCctta seniitriloba. 
Guaziuiia ulmit'olia. 
Tlu'obronia cacao. 
Sterculia caribca. 

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, H. trilobus, and 11. esculentus. 
Paritiuni (iliacciuu. 
Malacbra capitata. 
Pavonia raccniosa. 
Urcuna sinuata, 

Sida cordifolia, and S. rhombifolia. 
Courupita <;uiancusis. 
Lecylbis adatimon. 
Baubinia uicgalaudra. 

Tliose lists of tropical plants are tlio more valuable and interesting because 
many of them have been introduced from foreign countries, a'nd are preserved 
in the government conservatories, where they may be studied in their growing 
state. It is truly surprising to observe in these collections so many valuable 
fibrous materials, and a new interest is at once im])arted to the inspection of 
these exotics, when we find them possessed of so great utriity. 

The commission also refer to the very extensive and exceedingly interesting 
cabinet of fibres which was opened for their study by Dr. G. C. Schoeffer of this 
city, among w hicb were the following rare fibres : 



Agave americana. 
Arum iiuiiculaceum, (root.) 
Pandanus spiralis. 
Ananassa sativa. 
Musa viohicea. 
Abroma augusta. 
Malvaviscus arboreus. 
Helifouia biaziliensis. 
Fourcroya gigantea. 
(Pita cauca'.') 
(Madagascar palm ?) 



Tiilandsia serrata. 
Kydia eaiycina. 
Helicteres jamaicencis. 
TriumlJL-tta semitriloba. 
Sida jamaicencis. 
Ureua typlialea. 
Sida mollis, very soft. 
Hibiscus esculi^ntus, coarse. 
Corck'a macrophylla. 
Hibiscus liliillora. 



ENDOGENOUS. 

Ahauwa (Coricaceie.) 

Carica papaya. 

Cocoa-nut, coir. 

Musa paradisaica. 

Musa sapientum. 

Yucca gloriosa. 

Pothos violacea. 

Bromelia karatas, long and fine. 

Carlodovica palmata. 

Yucca aloifolia. 

Bromelia penguin, very fine. 

EXOGE.XS. 

Ochroma lagopus. 

Hibiscus subdariffa. 

Cordia sebestena. 

Eurena simulata. 

Hibiscus elatus, 60 to 80 feet. 

Kleinhoflea hospita. 

Oenothera biennis. 

Asclepias cornuti, very strong. 

Asclcj)ias tuberosa. 

Lagetta liutearca. 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 85 

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. Boelimeria nivea, Java. 

" rubroflore pleno. Broussonettia, South Sea islands. 

Flax and hemo from various sources, and many other fibrous substances. 

CHINA-GRASS. 

From the Asiatic continent we have some specimens of cloth made of China- 
gi-ass. This article is no doubt, in its essential qualities and uses, a species of 
flax, and therefore properly comes under our notice. It has been produced for 
many years by the industrious and ingenious people of China. We have 
remarked that in the coarse kinds of cloth made from it the fibre appears to be 
split into lengths, and attached to each other at the smaller ends. In this simple 
state the pieces are put together with great dexterity. This is an interesting 
example of the position of this manufacture among one of the most ancient 
nations of the world. 

Besides the coarser kinds of cloth, there are exhibited some beautiful hand- 
kerchiefs and other fine linens made from this material. At the present day 
China-grass is occasionally used in making colored fabrics, combined with other 
substances, such as silk and cotton; and from the peculiar brilliancy of the 
fibre it shows to touch advantage in this way. It has not as yet entered into 
extensive use for plain goods ; but some very meritorious attempts to ascertain 
its utility for that purpose have been made and are still in progress. 

The commissioners were very much pleased with specimens of this material 
contributed by Lemuel W. Wright, from Brooklyn, New York, which are 
remarkable for their beauty. They consist of the raw material, and of combed 
and cleaned fibres, some of which are beautifully dyed. There was also a por- 
tion of tangled fibres or tow which was examined by the microscope, though 
not presented as flax-cotton. The fibres of this material are made up of very 
long cells which would be ruptured in any attempts to cottonize it, and it 
should be used as long-line, 'i'he specimens of cloth presented in which this 
fibre was combined with wool were very beautiful. No description of pro- 
cesses and apparatus used in the preparation of this material was laid before 
the commission. 

The admirable appearance of this fibre so attracted the attention of the com- 
mission that they at once investigated the history of the plant since its intro- 
duction into this country and propagation at the Congressional gardens. As 
will be seen by reference to the United States Patent Office reports for 185.5, 
Mr. Smith succeeded in growin,!2;' plants from seed sent him from th^ West 
Indies by Mr. Wilson. Mr. Smith propagated many plants, and we understand 
that they were widely distributed throughout the southern States, under the 
impression that the climate would prove well adapted to it. Our observations 
upon the plants that remain in the Congressional gardens, confirmed by the 
opinion of Mr. Smith and other botanists, induce us to believe that Washing- 
ton is on the northern boundary of the region where this plant may be success- 
fully cultivated. 

Specimens of an allied species have been presented from the northwest, St. 
Anthony, Minnesota, which demonstrate that we have a native plant of great 
value, to which we desire to direct public attention. Unfortunately, the speci- 
mens of the dead plant were in too imperfect a condition to ideutil'y its botanicg.1 
classification. 

Dr. Schcefifer, in the Patent Office report for 1855, notices the China-grass in 
the following paragraphs : 

"Many exogenous plants are herbaceous — that is, grow with little strength to the stem for 
one year, and°then die down to the ground Even the perennial plants of warmer climates 
may, in the milder regions of the temperate zones, become annuals. In the case of true an- 
nuals there is no need for any great hardening of the woody tissues of the stem, as the sole 



86 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

end to be attained is a sufficient support for the plant until it flowers aud the siicds ripen. 
Herbai'cous stems, wliich die down to the ground ijieh year, are evidently designed lor a 
similarly restricted end. In the case of perennials, which, in other climates, nn'ght at length 
become woody shrubs, a single year's growth is not enough to allow of nuich induration of 
the wood-cells, and hence they approach neiuly to the coudiiion of true annuals, although 
the temlency to produce iirm wood is constantly shown. li\ under either of these three heads, 
a pliint is found which furnishes a long and useful bast, a common and weli-I:novvn treatment 
can be economically emi>loyed for the separation of the tibre. The phint is exposed to the 
action ^)f the air and moisture, with more or less of fermentation, until the dilferent tissues 
become separated, and even until the different cells are locx'^ened in their adhesion, Iry which 
the harder and shorter woody ilbres are broken, and in part reuKJved. while the pliability of 
the ba^■.t allows it to pass through the treatment \vithoiU injury. At the same time, the short 
aud more tender cells are also removed, the latter stages of the process dilfering for differeui 
plants, all contributing to the complete separation of the remains of the adherent and useless 
types. 

"Two things, then, must concur to make a useful fibrous plant; for not only must the 
bast be long, pliant, and in bundles of the projier size, but the wood which is to be rejected 
must be brittle, with short cells, not much harden<>d, or not strongly adhering together. Flax 
and hemp are, in our own country, the best specimens of these l;ivoral)le conditions, bitt we 
have other plants nearly, if not quite, as well adapted to the maimfacture of useful fibre; 
and other countries show that nature has not been stinted in her supply of materials capable 
of meeting one of the first wants of mankind. 

"Differences in degree, even in the sameplaut, itndervaryiug circumstances, must frequently 
occiu'. The wood may become harder and greater in amount, the bast weaker and less in 
quantity, and the necessary inference might be drawn that judgment an# skill in the culture 
of the plants would favorably modify these conditions. Experience, in advance of anything 
like an accurate knowledge of plant structure, has shown that this is true, at least for our 
common fibrous crops. Single stalks of hemp, or other such plants, allowed to grow at a 
distance from each other, or from other plants, would furnish but sorry specimens of tibre, as 
a single plant invariably shows a hard woody stem, and a coarse fibre in the bark. But 
when a number of plants are grown in a small space, every one knows that they grow longer, 
and arc more slender than when separate. In this way the strength of the wuod is greatly 
diminished, and the fibre of the bark, if less abundant, is lln(.'r, aud possiljly longer. If the 
plant has a tendency to branch, this is thus advantageously prevented. The close cultivation 
of okra, cotton, and other plants, Avhich we are accustomed to see separated from each other, 
would probably show a fibre in the bark far more capable of treatment by the ordinary pro- 
cess than would be suspected by most persons. A knowledge of correct princi'jles is here 
of the greatest advantage, when new materials arc concerned." 

TROPICAL FIBRES. 

Mr. Squier has presented a very pretty book upon tropical fibres, their pro- 
duction and economic extraction. It is based upon extensive observations 
made durinp; Iris residence of some years in Central America, while acthig as 
minister of the United States to that country. From this work we make some 
extracts aud condensations. 

He Says he was struck with the number and variety of endogenous plants, 
such as agaves, pine-apples, plantains, and palms, which are characteristic 
features of the landscape. These plants all abound in valuable textile fibres, 
while many of them produce staple articles of food, oil, and refreshing as well 
as intoxicating drinks. The fibres are capable of being reduced to any degree 
of fineness, and are possessed of great strength, and are thus fitted for the most 
delicate tissues ;is well as for the strongest cables. 

He very naturally asks himself, " Why are not all these fibre-bearing plants 
with which the country teems in some way utilized?" This question Avas 
soon answered when he came to observe the rude method by which the fibres 
were extracted. The natives slowly remove the pulpy and vascular portions 
of the plants with a triangular scraper, or a blunted knife, and thus procure 
but a few pounds of imperfectly cleaned fibres during a long day's toil. They 
have no machinery, and even in the Philippine islands, Avhcre ten million dollars 
worth of plantain fibres .are annuall}; produced, he learned that no machinery 
was yet applied. 

The object of the book appears to be, to direct attention to some of these 
numerous and valuable plants, in the hope that Yankee ingenuity will succeed 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTOX. 87 

in producing and applying mxcliinery by which a single man may extract a 
greater quantity of fibres, and in better condition, than one hundred men can 
obtain through the primitive modes now in U3e. This great desideratum, Mr. 
Squier thinks, we have obtained in some modification of Sauford & Mallory's 
flax and hemp machines. 

The following tables are given of the value of these products : 

Tropical Jlh res imported into the United Statcsfor the year 18G0, {^custom-liouse 

valuations.) 
Kind. Quantity. Value. 

Manilla hemp 347, 431 cwts. $1, G31, 884 

Sisal " 5,630 " 25,114 

Coir, &c 11L^5S5 " 163,039 

Gunny bags 287, 387 

" cloth 1,795, 256 



Total 3, 902, 680 



Tropical Jihrcs imported into Great Uritamfur the year 1855, (estimated real 

value.) 

Kinds. Quantity. Value. 

Jute (gunny) 539, 297 cwts. $2, 235, 835 

Manilla hemp 92,755 " 1,443,495 

Other fibres 8,591 " 51,545 



Total 640,643 4,730,875 



These quantities, however, he considers insignificant compared to the illimita- 
ble sources of supply. 

Mr. Squier asserts that nearly all of these fibres are white while the plants 
producing them are in their green state, and that they become discolored by 
their exposure to the sun's rays while they are yet associated with the sap and 
its gummy and coloring matters. He also alludes to the danger from excessive 
fermentation to which vegetable tissues are exposed in attempts at rotting them 
in tropical climates. These gummy, coloring, and other extraneous matters of 
plants are said to be soluble in cold water, if the plants are treated while in a 
green condition, and may be removed by crushing the tissues, scraping and 
heckling and washing them simultaneously. The gum held in solution by 
plants, while in the growing state, becomes dried upon the fibres, and renders 
them harsh, brittle, and more or less unfit for textile purposes. 

The pine-apple, Bromelia sylvcstris, the wild species produces the silk grass 
of the British West Indies, the pita of Mexico and Central America. This plant 
is hardy and luxuriant, arTd produces an abundant and excellent fibre, which 
entitles it to a high rank among fibre-producing plants. All the bromelias yield 
a similar fibre. All varieties of the musa or plantain family produce good 
fibres ; of these the musa textilis or Manilla grass, though a native of the east, 
flourishes in great luxuriance in tropical America and the Antilles. The agaves 
are peculiar to America, but the Agave americana flourishes in southern Europe 
and Algeria. The Agave rnexicana, or maguey, and the A. sisalhia, or Ilenne- 
quin and varieties, are peculiar to America ; the latter yields the Sisal hemp, 
which is said to be equally hardy with the Bromelia sylvestris, and gro^s in 
everyvariety of soil, even among rocks and in arid wastes where it produces an 
abundance of excellent fibres. 



88 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

Dr. Henry Perrine attempted the introduction of some of these plants into 
eouthcrn Florida, iinder protection of Coni^ro.'^s, granted in 1837, by which he 
acquired pre-emption to certain lands south of the 26th parallel of latitude. 
Among the plants he introduced from Central America were three or four 
species of the agave, the cochineal cactus, paper mulberry, date palm, &c. ; all 
of which succeeded well until the occurrence of the Seminole war, which residted 
in the destruction of the plantations and in the death of this patriotic citizen. 
Of some of these plants Dr. Perrine has written, that being " lighter, stronger, 
more elastic, and more durable than the cortical fibres of hemp or flax, and 
produced by perennial self-propagation, in stony, sandy, or swampy surfaces, 
with the easiest and cheapest cultivation, and the speediest and simplest prepa- 
ration, the relative and positive prices and properties of the foliaceous fibres of 
the agaves and the plantain, insure their substitution for cortical fibres in the 
general consumption of mankind." 

This prophecy has in great degree been fulfilled within our time in the 
increased consumption of this class of fibres, but we do not agree with Mr. 
Squier, who asserts that our agaves and bromelias supply better substitutes 
for flax and hemp than any of the Old World plants. We must admit that 
provident Nature has prepared special products for special uses, endowing them 
with peculiar properties, and varying forms in their ultimate structure, so that 
each is especially adapted to the several particular purposes to which the 
ingenuity of man in the course of centuries has applied it. 

Mr. Squier reminds us that all vegetable fibres may be resolved into three 
great classes : the foliaceous, cortical, and capsular. The first are obtained from 
endogenous or monocottjJcdonous plants. Near the tropics this class of plants 
is largely represented by the yuccas, agaves, plantains, and palms, their fibres 
are imbedded in the cellular tissues and pulpy matter of their stems and leaves, 
and may generally be extracted by mechanical means. 

The conical fibres of this classification are obtained from the exogenous or 
diroti/hdonous plants, containing the true hast fibres. They are often of great 
length, and but little hardened, some form great trees, while others are herb- 
aceous. Among them we find the mallows, the nettles, the flax, and some of the 
bean family. In all of these there is also a woody tissue embraced by the bast, 
and constituting the stem of the plant, while the bundles of fibres are connected 
together, and with the stem, by a peculiar vegetable substance which needs to 
be separated in their preparation. 

Tlie third class, or capsular fibres, are obtained from the pods where they are 

associated with the seeds. Cotton is a familiar illustration of this class. 

He quotes Mi*. Dennis as speaking of the Sisal hemp thus : 
• 

"Tliis gigantic plant delights in dried, rocky land containing an abundance of lime, and 
there are thousands of" acres of land in this region, worthless for other agricultural purposes, 
on which a ton of clean Sisal heinp might be produced yearly, after the plant has reached an 
age to allow of cutting otf its lower leaves, which would be in from three to live years, ac- 
cording to circumstances. Neither the growth of the plant, nor the amouiU of its product 
liere, is any longer an experiment. Nor is there any longer a doubt as regards the value of 
tlie libre, a number of tons of it having been collected and sent to market, where it readily 
brought within half a cent per pound as much as the best Manilla hemp, and that is about 
two hundred and fifty dollars per ton. A thousand plants should be set to tiie acre, and 
irom the constant shoots which spring up it will bo seen that the same land will not require 
rei)lauting. After the plant is of sufficient growth, the lower leaves are cut otF at proper 
times, having enough on to]) to keep it healthy. These leaves are composed of a soft, watery 
pulp, and are from two to six i'eet long, from four to six inches wide in the middle, and 
tVetpieutly three inches thick at the butt, having the general shape of the head of a lance. They 
contain a gum, which is the chief cause of their being rather troublesome in separating the 
libre from the pulp. Neither the epidermis nor the pulp is more than a powder, alter becoming 
dry, if the giuii bo entirely cnished or mashed out. This is a most important fact in relatiou 
to the means to be adopted to clean the fibres from the pulp. As these are continuous and 
parallel, and imbedded in the pulp, I feel certain that a .system of passing the leaves through 
a series of heavy iron rollers, firmly set, something like those of a sugar mill, and thi'owiug 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR UEMP FOR COTTON. 89 

water on the crushed leaves, in jets or othenvise, in sufficient quantities to wash out the 
gum, (which is perfectly soluble in water,) will thoroughly clean the fibres without loss, so 
that when they become dry, and have been beaten to get out the dust, they will be fit for 
use. At any rate, the right plan for separating the fibres has not yet been discovered, although 
there has been enough done in it to shoic that they can be got out at a profit. Here, the people 
either preserve the primitive process (which is practiced in Yucatan) of beatiug and scraping 
the leaves, or, after crushing them between a pair of rollers, steeping them in an alkaline solu- 
tion for a few days and then heckling them. But both scraping and combing destroys too many 
of the fibres by breaking them, which would not bo done by a system of rolling and washing 
out the gum. In Yucatan they sometimes ferment the beaten leaves in water or mud ; but 
this staius and wealjfens the fibres so as to reduce their value, I believe, more than half. 
Even steeping the leaves in an alkaline pickle, although it may not much weaken the fibres, 
as the juice of the leaves is acid, nevertheless destroys the silky gloss which they possess 
when got out of the fresh leaves by aid of pure water alone, besides increasing the cost of 
extraction. I have some fifty acres of the plants under cultivation, and am increasing the 
quantity as I have opportunity." 

Mr. Hermonds, of Indian River, Florida, niforms me that the Sisal hemp groAvs well 
there, and has continued to thrive well for four years. He thinks that my estimate of a ton 
of fibre per acre is too low. The experiments which I have made during the past year, in 
getting out a number of tons of this fibre, prove that all the vesicles of the leaves are rup- 
tured by crushing or rolling, and that the pull) O'" g^^^^ can easily be washed out by either 
salt water or fresh. The plan which I have found most successful was to wet the leaves, being 
careful to rupture all the vessels, then confine these crushed leaves in an open-work wooden 
frame or box, which I placed in such a manner that the tide forced tlie sea-water through 
them both at the ebb and flow. In this manner the gum and pulp were so far washed out, 
in from three to six days, according to the temperature of the air and water, that by beating 
the fibres a little they were fit for market. 

Mr. Hermouds mentions, as a tested fact, that steeping the crushed leaves in boiling 
water, even lor a few minutes, at once dissolved the gum and cleaned the fibre. This renders 
it almost certain that when a steam-engine is used to propel rollers and crush the leaves, the 
waste steam can be rendered effective to clean the hemp by blowing it off between the rollers, 
aided by a little water, in a jet, while the leaves are passing through. 

Mr. Squier objects to the use of steam or hot water. The amount of Sisal 
hemp imported into the United States in 1854 was 925,900 pounds, valued at 
the custom-house at $64,516, but having a real value of upwards of $100,000. 

Mr. Squier tells us that' the Maguey is chiefly cultivated in Mexico for its juice. The 
plants are set in rows, about five feet apart. When the haiiipe, or central stem, which often 
attains the lieight of forty or fifty feet, is on the point of efHoroscence, it is cut off, and a 
hollow scooped out for receiving the sap. This keeps running for two or three months, the 
reservoir being emptied three or four times a day. The yield from a vigorous plant is about 
four hundred English cubic inches per day, or, for the season, from two to three hundred 
gallons. This enormous product is all the more remarkable from the fact that the Maguey 
plantations are generally in and grounds, and frequently on ledges of rocks scarcely covered 
with vegetable earth. The plant has firm and vigorous leaves, aud is neither affected by 
drought, wet, hail, nor by the excessive cold which prevails in the higher Cordilleras of 
Mexico. It perishes after efflorescence, but an infinity of shoots then spring from the de- 
caying roots. No known plant multiplies with greater facility. 

The fibre of the Maguey is coarser than that of the Agave sisilana, but nevertheless of 
great utility and extensively used. 

Agaoe americana.—Th[>i plant, which has been naturalized in the south of Europe and 
Algeria, is often confounded with the Maguey or Agave sisilana. Its flowering or central 
stem, when the plant is vigorous, rises to the height of forty feet or upwards, and throws 
out brcinches on every side, like those of a candelabrum, so as to form a kind of pyramid, 
each branch supporting a cluster of greenish red flowers. These give place to bulbous seeds, 
which, when planted, spring up rapidly aud luxuriantly. The original plant, however, dies. 
The time of flowering varies with localities and climate. An erroneous notion is that it 
flowers only once in a hundred years. Hence the popular name of century plant. The 
fibres from its leaves closely resemble those from the Maguey. It is a hardy plant, aud often 
c6vers rocky, barren eminences, where every other kind of vegetation fails to take root. 

Bromclla sylccstris, or wild pine-apple, the istle of Mexico, but known as pita aud pehnella 
in Central America and Panama, and in the West Indies as bromeha pinguin, or penguin, 
can hardly be said to rank second to the hennequins in economic importance. It is widely 
diffused throughout the tropics, growing everywhere, in all varieties of soil. It is extensively 
used for hedges, for which its long, straight, and spiny leaves admirably adapt it, aud may 
be cultivated with a minimum of labjr and cost, aud in unlimited quantities. 

The leaves are from five to eight feet long, from one and a half to three inches wide, thin, 
and lined with a fine, tough fibre, the pita, equal in strength aud beauty, aud in other respects 
better than that of the hennequin. It is altogether a superior substitute for fiax 



90 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

This plant is self-propagating, and, left to itself in an open field, will soon cover the ground. 
In Central America, but particularly in Nicaragua, it is so abundant iu the forests as to be a 
serious obstruction to the passage of man or beast. 

INIajor Barnard, United States army, in his report on the i.sthrau3 of Tehuan- 
tepec, t^piaks as foU'ows of the istk : 

"Among the spontaneous products of the isthmus is Bromdin pita, or isth, which diff<rs 
in some respects from the Agace americuna of Euro^ie, the put(jue maguey of Mexico, and 
the Agarc siMana of Yucatan. Of this prolific plant there are numerous varieties, all yielding 
fibres^vhicli vary in quality from the coarsest hemp to the finest flax. It is indifferent to soil, 
climate, and season, and the simplicity of its cultivation, and the facility of extracting and 
preparing its products, render it of universal use." 

In the year 1S57, (January 14,) C;iief Justice Temple, of Belize, or British 
Honduras, read a paper before the llo^-al Society of Arts of London, on the 
resources of that part of Central America. Among other objects of interest, he 
exhil)it('d a quantity of the fibre of the plant under notice, as well as of the 
Aqave sisilana. Of the former, or Bromella syJccstris, he said : 

"The iilaiit called Ihomclia pita, isile by the Mexicans, and silk-grass by the Creoles of 
British Honduras, grows spontane(msly in the greatest abundance. '1 he leaves are of a soft, 
dark green, Irom five to thirteen feet long, and from an inch and a half to four inches wide. 
Alou"- the edo-e of the leaf, about six inches apart, arc short, sharp, curved thorns. When 
the plant is cultivated, these gradually disappear. Tlie fibre which the leaf contains is un- 
questionably of a very suj)erior description, and, I have no doubt, could be used iu every 
species of textile fabric. 1 have been informed by leading manufacturers that this fibre is 
equal to the best Cluna-grass, superior to the New Zealand fiax, and capable of being manu- 
factured into the finest fabrics." 

In the discussion which took place among the leading members of the society 
on the paper of Judge Temple, Mr. P. L. Simmonds, editor of the Mark Lane 
Express, said : 

"I have to-day seen some of the indigenous specimens of the penguin, or hromrlia, from 
Hoiuluras, which have been operated upon by a new, patented process of Messrs. Pye Bros., 
of Ipswicli, and am astonished at the renunkable imi)r<ivemcnt and high conuncrcial value 
which have been given to the. article. The main dilficulty that has stood in the way of 
utilizing many of these fibres, and making them cheap and of universal use, has been the 
want of cheap and etficient machinery for preparing them, and getting rid of the gummy 
and other matters which surround them, without injury to the fibres, fciuch machinery is a 
desideratum of the age." 

Mr. J. B. Sharp said : 

"He could confirm all that had been said by those who preceded him. He had that 
morning submitted some of the fibres to a close microscopical examination, and had ascer- 
tained that each fibre contained from five to twelve, or more, fine filaments, held together by 
gunuiiy hiatter capable of being dissolved by pro[)er processes. Sonic of the specimens 
before them had been passed over the couib or hackles of a fiax-miil, and had been [)ro- 
nouiiccd by the most exp(!rienccd liax-spinners of the country (En|laud) to be greatly 
superior to Russian flax, and approaching the best descriptions of Belgian fiax, iu capability 
of application to the finest textile fabrics. 

"lie liad no hesitation in saying that the three British colonies of .Jamaica, Honduras, 
and Guiana were capable of furnishing fibres from the plants in question to the value of 
$;15,UUU,UUU per annum." 

IMUSA OR BANANA FAMILY. 

The various members of this family rank only second to the agaves and 
bromelias in the quantity and value of their fibres. Several varieties are cul- 
tivated for food, yielding a delicious and nourishing fruit ; and iu such abund- 
ance that Humboldt estimates the product of a single acre as equal to the average 
product of lo3 acres of wheat, and 44 acres of potatoes. An interesting and, 
tor the purpose which we have in view, a most important fact, is that the tree 
or i)bnit, whether plantain or banana, is almost universally cut down when the 
fruit is gathered. With proper machinery for extracting the fibre, the many 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 91 

millions of plants thus left to rot could be converted into articles of first utility 
tor mankind, such as cordage, cloth, paper, &:c. 

Manilla hetnp. — The fibre known to commerce as Manilla hemp is extracted 
from a variety of the banana, the musa textdis. It is a round, silky-lookiag 
fibre, nearly white. It is admirably adapted for cordage, and from the finer 
fibres obtained from the petioles of the leaves are made many of the delicate 
and celebrated muslins of India. 

The stems of all the plants of this order or family are made up of the united 
petioles of the leaves. They contain such a remarkable abundance of spiral 
vessels that they can be pulled out by handfdls, and are sold for tinder. 
Lach spiral vessel contains six or seven fibres, which when separated constitute 
the Manilla hemp. 

The value of Manilla hemp in the English market is about '^'Zb per ton more 
than the best Ilussian hemp. 

M. Perronttel, botanist of the French government in Gaudaloupe, has given 
a very £ull account of the abaca of Manilla, and the mode of extracting its 
fibres : 

'The abaca of the Philippines differs essentially from all the varieties of banana known. 
Its stem, which rises from a tuft of shoots, has a'height of from fifteen to twenty feet, of a 
dark-green color, and very smooth on its surface. Its leaves are of the same color, loiig and 
straight, with strongly marked nerves both parallel and transverse. The fruil is small, 
triangular, resembling abortive bananas, and scattered here and there near the extremity of 
the fruit-stem. It is full of black seeds, almost round, and similar to those of the fumho. 
Ihese seeds fructify rapidly after planting, and the young plants are strong and vi?-orous, 
attaining the dimensions already indicated within the short space of eight or nine months. 
Ihe plant requires a rich, humid soil, and rejoices in thick forests, at the' base of mountains, 
where it accpures in a short time an extraordinary development. I have never seen it in 
such perfection as on the humid yet high grounds belonging to M. de Lacharriese (Guada- 
loupe,) notwithstanding its entire abandonment to itself in the midst of a junglaof other 
plants. Only two shoots were planted here, about seven years ago, yet now tlie w-hole valley 
is covered with them so as to resemble a forest. This fact proves sufficiently that the plant 
IS robust and easily cultivated; indeed, that it can be propagated with a minimum of care to 
the greatest needful extent. 

"No doubt, however, its regular cultivation would be beneficial in many respects, espe- 
cially if the plants were kept at a reasonable distance apart, so as to pi^rmit their full de- 
velopment, in the Philippines the stems are cut down as near the ground as possible at the 
moment they evince signs of flowering— that is to say, about eight mouths after plantiu"-; 
ihe outer^ sheath or envelope is then stripped off, leaving the petioles that compose the stem 
proper. The stem is next split into two. and aftenvards into lour parts, after which the 
petioles or layers are stripped off, u-orking from the exterior. Those composing the very 
interior or heart of the stem are thrown aside, as being destitute of fibres of sutScieift stieugth 
for economic purposes. The reserved tiiauieuts or slips are now pounded with clubs of hfird 
wood, Hist on oue side and then on the other, until the transversal and cellular tissues and 
porous and gummy matters are expelled. After this the fibres are passed frequently throuo-k 
a coarse hackle, and washed many times in clear, running water, until perfectly free friSn 
all extraneous matters. They are then hung over ropes or poles to dry in the shade. 

"As the fibres are not all of the same size, those being finest which come from the slips 
nearest the heart of the stem, they are carefully separated by hand; the coarsest beino- laid 
aside for cables, ropes, cords, &c., according to their relative fineness, while the finest are 
reserved for the more delicate tissues. 

_ "In sending them to Europe lor sale, the fibres are paclced in bales of greater or lesser 
size. Those which are of fifteen feet in length or upwards are folded back on themselves 
three or four times, according to the length of the cases containing them; those of less 
length are folded two or three times, after which the cases are hermetically closed, in order 
to protect their contents from humidity on board ship. 

"This is the manner in which the abaca of the Philippines is prepared, and it only remains 
to indicate the purpose for which it may bo used in France. 

"As already said, the coarser fibres are used to make cables, which have great solidity 
and durability. Hopes of great tenacity are also made from the steins, which are used in 
many ways, but particularly in rigging coasting vessels ; of the finer sort, tissues or muslins 
of great beauty are made, which are very dear even in Manilla. I had a number of shirts 
made from tl^is muslin, which lasted me a very long time, and were cool and agreeable in 
the use. But it is especially in France that tissues of this material are best made and of 
greatest beauty. They receive all colors with equal perfection. Veils, crapes, neck- 
bandkerchiefs, robes, aud women's hats, all of great beauty and high cost as well as of 



92 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

wonderful ilarability, aro among the manufactures from tbe abaca fibres. Besides, tliej 
are used for various articles of men's wear, such as shirts, vests, pantaloons. &c. 

"Ever since this precious fibre became known in France, our vessels have frequented 
Manilla, returniufr freij^iitcd in [lart with the article. Tiie quantity imported, however, falls 
far sliort of the deuiuuds of the niunufacturers, and its production certainly deserves the 
attention of all our soutiieru colonies. Its cultivation, as wo have seen, is easy, and as 
regards tost, next to notliing; and there is no reason why it should not become an important 
article of commerce throughout tropical America." 

Mr. Jules Itier, special agent connected with a late French mission to China, 
made a report to his government on the productions and resources of that 
empire : 

"The abaca cloth is almost transparent, somewhat rigid, light, and cool to the touch, and 
is used by the Tagals for ua])kins, handkerchiefs, shirts, &c., of various colors. The fibres 
are not spun or twisted, but the threads are used in their natural state, being only tied 
together at their ends. They are next wound into balls, soaked for a day in hot water, dried 
in the sun, and aro then ready to be woven." 

THE PALM FA.MILY. 

The- Gommuti sogucre, or Ejoo fibre, from the variety of palm known to 
science as arenga saccJiarifcra, is produced by the splitting or decay of the 
leaf-stalks. To the natives of the tropics these naturally prepared libres are 
invaluable, supplying them with materials for canvas, cordage, and a variety 
of economic purposes. It is best known as a product of the East Indies, but 
a similar article is also found under the tropics in America, where it is produced 
from a variety of palm known to science as the attalea funifera. The tree 
producing the gommuti fibre rises from twenty to thirty feet in height, and has 
a dense crown of leaves. The petioles are very stout, and it is at the base of 
these, completely embracing the trunk of the tree, where the horse-hair-like 
material, which co-operates to render this palm so valuable, is found. Cheaper, 
more durable, and stronger than coir, it has the additional advantage of resisting 
moisture, for which reason it is highly valued lor ropes, especially cables, from 
their not being liable to injury when stowed away below, wet with salt-water. 
Underneath this naturally produced fibre the gommuti palm produces a soft, 
gossamer-like substance, called horu, used in place of oakum for calking, &c. 

To the natives of the East Indies and the Philippine islands this tree is in- 
valuable. Its juice, when reduced, produces sugar, and when fermented, an in- 
toxicating liquor. From one hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds of sago 
may also be obtained from a single tree, which will furnish from four to seven 
pounds of fibre. 

Piassava, monkey-grass, or Para-grass, and called by the natives chiqui- 
ckiqui, is produced from a variety of palm (attalea funifera,) which abound 
on the Amazon river and its tributaries, in very much the same manner as the 
gommuti from the Arenga palm. The tree is one of tlie most elegant of its 
family. Its stem rises from twenty to thirty feet, straight as an arrow. From 
the top of this springs a tuft of pinnated fronds or leaves, often nearly twenty 
feet in length. Before the decay of the petioles the fibres become detached at 
the margin of their bases in large quantities, hanging down ten or twelve feet 
in tufts, wlitnce comes the name funifera, rope-bearing. 

Nearly all the cordage used on the Amazon is made from the piassava fibre, 
which is remarkably round, not very pliable, and often about the thickness of 
the small grei'u rush. In ISol, eight hundred tons were exported from Para 
to England, where it is used for making brushes and brooms. The brushes of 
the street-sweeping machines of London are made from this fibre. 

Coir, or cocoa-nut fibre, manufactured from the husk or outer covering of the 
common cocoa-nut, is nearly as strong as hemp, and is used in ihe east for 
cordage. The fibre is prepared by soaking the husks in water for a long period 
of time, not unfrequeutly for six months, and until they become soft. They 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 93 

a. then dried and beaten -tU the woody p^^ 

only the fibres. The cordage ^^^^^^f' .^^^^//^^ ,^ '^eat Britah. from the Eaat 
material. The amount of cotrrove I^'^'IZL valued at §392,265. 
Indies, for the year 1859, was 8;2o8^00 pouncU ^^^^^ ^^^^^ . 

Corosal, royal, o. Corajo p^'^' ^^" ^"^i'.^'^rll ^^ and in the interior ot 

out tropical America, but fy^^^^^^f ^J^^^^v feet^ and the trunk is covered, from 
Cuba. 'it grows to the 1^-S^^\f^^^ ^^^^^ 
bottom to top-as are also ^t^, leaves wiuwog ^^^^ ^.^^ ^^ gvape-shot. 

It produces a large el-ter of nut^^^^^^^^^^ outdistinguishable from that of the 
from the kernel of which = ^'^^^^^^^f;^^'' ^^^,1^ covers a pulpy heart, saturated 
cocoa-nut. The woody extenor of ^^^^ .^^ l^^^^ be^btlined by incision, 
with a juice of a \^^-^}^ ^^J''f^^.%\^^^^^^ 

and which is cal ed v.no decoyal ^J/^^^^^ j^., bt, when vegetation as 

like the pulque of the maguey. _ if,^'?,d to cattle. The leaves of the coyal 

C.TAI.O0.E OP CONTRIBUTIONS O. TLAX, HEMP, .VKD OTHER EIB.ES, 

RAW MATERIALS. 



No. 



,,G.„P.o.C.D«v,cs,W.»,«H«.-M..x..«w.a...ed. broken ouMe.«. San 
'„ ST"nf/"S?£»! Mr»«/--;s -,3, 16. ir, fla..,.raw. 

; fi^^^-ssx^^^ s,^s^2^ -;^^xir -a, 

Ts' H^Kt- '«ir.'ff»'</, Fcnnsyl.anU.-l and 3, raw flax; 6, Kentucky ien,p ; 
L'. J.^NV^'SSL-'ibJ^e Modinariax Con.pany, MCin.. A'.. i^.-Flax-sUw, dew 
vetted. „ ,, . -pinv Bpod and straw, well ^rown. 

J '';]^S'\!^"^I^: SS^i^Sr ^rSl^ ,^.^.«.a.-Flax-straw m the boU, 
T^^OMPSOX, IFoo. L«.«,-ilI-I/^-'^-Hibiscusesculentus, showing tbo fibre 

'i'^"sS s£4:::^!-Mi«--'«-ur^-^^ - ^<^^"^"^' ^'^^p""' "'/'"" 



60. J 
63 



66. G. 



'ified. . „ , ^^^^^.,, , ^t believed to be A. cannabiuum. Contributor 

68. Apocijnum spccics.-Unknov^n, but belie%ta 

73. Cm/c/«x?-Contributorunkno^^^^ 2). 1863.-Five-weed, Epilobium angusti^ 

74 J S lliTcnm, Hiip'^rwr, Lake l^up'' nor, Ji.1^- 74, where it is set toitb 

''• '-tb iuni. See Dicte. Hist^. ^^^;^JS:t^:t& had proved unavailins.. 

''• "'^ 1 icU>nificatiou i^Y^^^^-^^^T^:;^: o^ Eryophorum polystachyon ; 
inQ R B Dean, ^V'^^^rford, Minnesota.— }^ia^&^o^u, ^ ,.^ ..^ know. 

''^- "^^^a very beautilul g-ss but not ain^hcab^ m ^^^ fib.e 



* Condensed from Tropical Fibres. 



94 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OK HEMP FOR COTTON. 

PREPARATIOXS. 

LONG FIBRES. 

" 5. Thomas H. Querian, Baltimore, Maryland. — Specimens of jute, in the crude state 

as pre.seiitetl in coiiimeri'c. 
" 11. Stephen Allen, Boston, Mass. — 12, prepared flax; 13, flax broken; IG, flax- 

struw retted; 17, lldx-straw imretted 
' 12, Geouue C. DAVn:s, Cincinnati, Oliio. — 5, tangled flax-straw broken by Mallory's 
niacliiue, shown as the stock liom which he prepares his clean tow, called Erolin, 
or ihix-wool. 
" 15. JosEi'ii Lea, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. — Specimens bleached by Lea &, Roth's 
jirocess : 1, Dutch flax retted oU ininutes ; 2, Dutch flax slightly done ; 3, Ameri- 
can retted one halt' done ; 4, Dutch flax retted 'iO minutes ; 5 and 0, American retted, 
only half done ; 7, American retted (55 minutes ; 8, Riga flax retted 25 minutes ; 
l», butch retted (iO minutes; 10, unretled American; IJ, unretted Irish, part 
bleached; 12, Frieslaud, bleached and unbleached 75 minutes; IH, American, 
unretted, bleached and unbleached ; 14, old tarred rope, bleaclied ; Id, samples of 
crude flax, same as made into yarn. These are beautil'ul samples of bleaching, 
and appear to be perfectly clear ot chlorine. 
" 17. Geoiiue Grauaim, Cincinnati, Ohio. — 2, flax-straw broken; 6, cottonized flax; 

specimens of the Clausseu product. 
" 19. R. Tenant Silaw, South Lansing, Neto York. — 7, long-line disintegrated and 
bleached; 8, long-line disintegrated and heckled; 10, jute treated; 13 and 14, 
"extract de Vlas" flax tibre; 15, tangled libre; 16, from green straw as above; 
17 and IS, tow as above; 19 and 20, jute by same process ; 21, China-grass as 
above. These latter are prepared by a jieeuliur patented ])rt)cess, in which a 
ferment prepared from the flax itself is used to set up the fermentation. 
" 41«&81. C. G. GRaco, Detroit, Michigan. — Flax cut, to illusti'ate his apparatus for short- 
ening the flbre; the cut ends are soft and even. 
'* 45. Joshua S. Coe, Newton Square, Pennsyleania. — Flax retted, broken and heckled by 

hand ; good flax. 
" 46. Willl\mS. LiOWRY, Saratoga Springs, New York, — Dressed flax, very good speci- 
men. 
" 49. Mary Mc Creary, Anderson, Ohio. — Prepared flax, beautifullj' prepared. 
" 51. Ai:*;l'ste Felie, Theresa, ll'isconsin. — Flax very beautifully dressed, soft and fine, 

and of good color. 
" 55. Lejiuel W. Wukjht, Brooklyn, New York. — Specimens of prepared China-grass, 
very beautiful illustrations of the silky character of this foreign fibre when 
properly treated. The process not disclosed. 
" 5G. LorKPORT Flax Company, Lockport, New York. — Broken flax, heckled flax 

specimens of stock used at this mill. 
" 57. Arnold Wilkinson, Providence, lihodc Island. — 1, liemp wliitened; 2, flax 
whitened ; 3, flax "decolorized without caustic;" hemp from old rope whitened; 
5, hemp baling rope. These specimens show what may be done in operating 
upon very unjjromising material. 
" 58. n. HiRCESS, Jloycr's Ford, Prnnsylrania. — 3, raw flax and straw ; 10, disintegrated 
in the straw ; (j, hemp; 1, flax. The processes by which these are prepared is 
given in ' iie chapter on manufacturing. 
" 59. J. W. Swan, fur iledina Flax Company, Medina, Neto York. — ^2, flax biokenbyhis 

machine ; flax dusted by his machine; v.-ell prepared. 
" CI. n. ilc FarLANE, Rocky Hill, New Yorii. — 1, green flax cottonized; 2, green flax 
treated; 4, unretted flax treated ; 8, hemp Claussenized ; 12, China-grass pre- 
pared. See i)rocess and statement in the apjjropriate chapter. 
" 62. Spei-imens lost and contributors unknown. 
" 65. ilAiiY' Allen, Pittsburg, Pennsyleania. — Prepared flax brought from Antrim, 

Ireland, a very beautiful specimen. 
" 68. Contributor unknown ; 2, Asclepias cottonized ; 3, Asclepias retted and broken. 
" 69. C. C. Williams, Oswego, New Yoik. — Cottonized tow by Neil Cook, a very good 

specimen. 
" 70. Jajies Y. SanTIT, Delaware, Ohio. — 1, straight flax scutehcd by McBride's ma- 
chine ; 2, tangled tow. 
" 73. Contributor's name lost ; bleached flax. 

" 83. James Y. Smitif, Providence, Ithode Island. — 1, flax from tangled straw, dressed on 

Jlcliridu's machine ; 2, flax from retted straw grown in Delaware, Ohio, dressed 

as above ; both good specimens of long-line. 

" 103. James E. Mallory, New York city. — ItitJi, retted flax, well broken ; 7, unretted 

flax, some shives ; 8, Irish water-rei ted, beautifully prepared, elegant ribbons 



SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 95 

of fibre; 9, tangled straw not retted, some shives ; 10 to V2, straight straw, well 
broken, and has some loose shives ; l;i, Missouri hemp, dew-retted, good. All 
broken on the Sanford & Mallory machines, and are good illustrations of their 
capability to break the straw. 

105. Contributor's unknown, Piqiia, Ohio. — 1, flax tow. 

107. Charles Kemper, Orange Springs, Snyder county, Pennsylvania. — Asclepias 
fibre, strong and very promising for application in the arts. 

11.3. IstAC HEDGES, Chicago,' Illinois. — Flax fihre prepared, very nice flax. 

12'2. Reuren IIendrickson, by Hon. John Law. — Fine flax, a good specimen. 

129. A. Beebe, 229 Broadway, New York. — 1, two shades jute; 2, American hemp tow ; 

3, Russian tow; 4, dyed jute "lubricated." 

130. R. Chute, St. Anthony, Minnesota. — 1, fibres of a native Boehmeria, long and 

strong; 2, tow of the same; 3, bleached fibre of the same plant. See micro- 
scopical examination and report in chapter on peculiarities of fibres. 

SHORT FIBRES. 

4. James H. Childs, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. — 1,2, flax-cotton ; 3, cottonizcd hemp. 

11. Stephen Allen, Boston, Massachusetts. — 9, Fibrilia wool, bleached; 10, Fibrilia 

hemp brown, colored and bleached ; 11, Fibrilia wool, uatuial. Shown as speci- 
mens of stock used in the production of the fabrics contributed. 

12. George C. Davies, Dayton, OAio.— 1, Eroliu, or flax-wool; 2, Erolin, blue ; 3, 

Eroliu, black; 4, Solfenno; to show the capacity of this material for taking color. 

14. CVRIJS Bacon, jr, assistant surgeon U. S. A., Unlluiiore, Maryland. — Cottonized 
flax, carded ; cottonized Asclejiias ; nice specimens. For the latter see report of 
microscopist. 

17. George Gkaham, Cincinnati, Ohio. — 3, flax-cotton ; 4, 5, 5^, same. 

19. R. T. Shaw. — 3, flax disintegrated and retted ; 4, tangled tow treated ; 5, hemp as 
No. 4; 6, flax as No. 3; i), flax-cotton: U, tow bleached; 12, tow bleached 
chemically. These specimens are not so satisfactory as we should desire. 

21. Bradley N. Howell, Philadelphia, Pennsylcania. — Flax-cotton, small hand speci- 
men of good appearance. 

36. L. Yeomans, Fulton, Oswego county, New York. — Flax-wool for batting, &c. 

37. Jonathan Knowles, Pruvideucc, Rhode Island. — Flax-cotton, nice specimeu. 

Process not communicated. 
18&39. Robert Fletcher, Osicego, New York. — 1, flax-cotton to work with cotton; 

2, flax-cotton to work with wool, beautiful specimens. See microscopic report. 
Process withheld by contributor. 

43. Thomas Williams, l-^ernon, Oneida co?cnty, New York. — Flax-cotton, good speci- 
men. 

50. L. Bardick, Espytown, Pennsylcania:. — 1, flax-cotton bleached ; 2, flax-wool un- 
bleached, good. 

52. E. Towne, Utica, New York. — 1, 2, and 3, flax-cotton. Prepared in the dry way 
by machinery, not very promising for cottou machinery. See letter in chemical 
chapter. 

54. Upham & Fuller, Claremont, New Hampshire. — 1, flax-cotton ; 2, flax-cotton 

fibres cut ; 3, flax-cotton fibres cut to work with wool ; 4, flax-cotton picJced and 
carded, not cut. See later contributions and report of microscopist ot these fibres ; 
also, the section on manufactures. 

55. Lemuel W. Wright, Brooklyn, New York. — Tow from China-grass. This does 

not pretend to be cottonized. See microscopic report upon it. 

56. Flax Company, Lockport, New York. — 1, flax-wool; 2, same; 3, flax-wool 

bleached. These are useful products for the upiiolsterer, and may be used with 
wool. 

57. Arnold Wilkinson, Providence, Rhode Island. — Bleached tow, " no bleach used." 

Nicely prepared ; process not stated. 

58. H. Burgess, Royer's Ford, Pennsylvania. — 2, prepared flax of 1882 ; 4, same of 

1863 ; 5, prepared flax and bleached of 1863 ; 7, prepared Kentucky hemp ; 9, 
prepared Russian hemp ; 10, flax disintegrated in stalk. See remarks in chapter 
on manufactures for estimates and description of processes. 
61. II. McFarlane, Rocky Hill, New York. — 3, green flax cottonized ; 5, green flax 
treated; 6, flax-wool from green flax; 7, hemp cottonized; 10, 11, flax-cottou 
carded; 12, China-grass carded. A very interesting group of products. For pro- 
cesses see letter in appropriate chapter. 

68. Cyrus Bacon, Baltimore, Maryland. — 2, Asclepias cottonized, a pretty specimen ; 

3, Asclepias retted and broken. 

69. C. C. Williams, tor Neil Cook, Oswego, New York. — Cottonized tow, very good. 
71. Cyrus Bacon, Bakimore, Md. — Asclepias cottonized, very pretty. 



96 SUBSTITUTING FLAX OR HEMP FOR COTTON. 

" 72. BAYAnn Taylor. — Flnx cottonized, from Russia. 

" 75. Ja.mi;s Wiiitkhill — Flax cottou. 

" 84. CiiAHiKs Bkach. Penn Van, N. V. — Specimens not found. 

" 105. RonKKT Sanderson, Piqua, Ohio. — '2, crude Ueached and cleaned tow; 3, un- 
blciicLed tow. 

•' 121. Ui'iiAiM & Fuller, Claremont, N. IT. — 1, Ohio seed flax broken and pickered; 2 
is No. 1 steamed, pressed, exploded, and pressed ; 3 is No. 2 once picked on wool 
cards piekeied twice on fine picker; 4 is No. 3 carded tbree times on wool cards 
(breakers); ^) is No. 4 with | wool mixed; (5 is hemp tow; 7 is No. (i, boiled, 
pres.^cd, exploded, picked twice, and carded three times on coarse wool curds ; 
8 is i wool and i flax, worked like No. J to No. 4. 

*' 131. Same party, as Jiis. B. FULLER, Noririrh, Conn., again show: ], from nnretted 
flax, treated, picked dry; 2, same .stock, picked, moist, carded with Cambrel 
card; 4, sann' st()ck bleached, not picked; G, same stock bleached, picked, moist, 
and carded with i American cottou; 1>, same stock colored, also drawings aud 
rovings ; see description in chapter on manutactmes. 

MAXUF.^CTURES. i 

" II. Stephen Allen, Boston, Mass. — 1, 2, .3, dniggets, see remarks in chapter ou 
peculiarities of fibres; 4, knit stufls ; 5, felted 33 per cent, fibiiiia; (5, roving: 
7, jeans and satinets; filling 40 per cent, cottou; 4U per cent, llnx-cottou ; 20 
per cent, wool; 6, fibrilia yarn; 14, Canton flannel, -J fibrilia and | cotton: 15, 
calicoes and prints ; 18, pa2)ers refemng to the above; It), brake as represented 
in a plate. 

" 15. JosKi'ii Lea, Philadelphia, Pa. — 15, St. Petersburg flax, bleached in the fibre, 
spun at Mechanicsvillc, N. Y., beautiful; 16, yarn .spun as above, very good 
thread; 17, yarn, American Linen Company; Fall River, Mass., good, bleached 
in two hours aud forty uiinutes; a piece of duck, very handsome goods. 

" 17. Geouu e Guail\m, Cincinnati, Ohio. — Union cloths and stuffs mixed with llax-cotton. 

" 2L Bkadley N. Howell, Philadelphia, Pa.— 2, roving of flaX-cotton. 

•' 37. Joxa'IIIax IvXOWLE.s, Proridence, li. I. — 2, flax roving; 3, flax thread; 4, thread. 

" 39&6J. liOBEUT Fletcher, Osiago, N. Y. — Knit stuffs, very good articles, see icport 
of trial in wear. 

" 45. Jot^liUA S. COE, Newton Square, Pa. — Flax thread. 

" 49. Mahy MtCREARY, Anderaon, Ohio. — Linen cloth. 

" 51. August Felie, Theresa, Ifia. — Flax thread, by hand, very fine. 

" 55. Lemuel W. AVrigiit, Brooklyn, N. Y. — 4 and 5, specimens of cloth, China-grass 
and wool mixed ; specimens of roving ; specimens of dyeing China-grass, very 
beautiful products. 

" 59. J. W. Swan, for Medina Flax Co., Medina, N. Y. — 7, flax combed; P, flax warp ; 
9, twines; U), calicoes aud woollens; II, brown wrapping-twine; J"J, white 
wrappiug-twine. A very interesting group of products ; the twines are particu- 
larly good. 

" 60. John L). Lang, Vassalhoro\ Me. — Specimens of cloth and kerseys; very good. 

" 6L II. McFarlane, Rocky Hill, N. 1.-9, stuff'. Flax aud wool. 

" 7(i. M. KnoWLES. — Flax thread. 

" 122. Kei liEN IIendrk K.S()N, Dale P. 0., Spencer Co., Tnd. — 2, flax thread. 

" 132. J. B. Fuller. — 3 yarn, No. 24, spun fiom fibre; No. 2 (see No. 131,) very promis- 
ing; '. yarn spun from No. 0, (see 131,) very good; 8, yarn iialf tlax, half 
cotton, excelleut product. See chapter ou manufactures. Also print cloih^ warp 
cottOu, weft flax-cotton, good quality. 



UBB'^'^'', 



OF 



CONGRESS 



018 



452 



162 3 



